Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp will be fined for his comments about umpire Dale Scott and his strike zone after Game 3 of the NLDS, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.
Down 3-1, Kemp led off the ninth inning of Game 3 of the NLDS at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, and struck out looking against Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal. Kemp did not like the call, and shared his thoughts with home plate umpire Dale Scott.
After the game, Kemp was even more vocal.
"Terrible. Terrible strike zone," Kemp told reporters after Game 3, per Mark Saxon of ESPN. "I've never seen anything like it. That's disappointing because you've got guys out there battling. You know, this is two good teams going at it, and it's supposed to be the teams, not the umpire, and I just feel like the umpire took the bat out of our hands today."
Dodgers manager Don Matingly also disagreed with the strike zone of the crew chief Scott, though chose his words more carefully than did Kemp.
"We had a lot of guys complaining about the strike zone. And we felt like he was really generous. And it puts you on a bind. You keep giving pitches, changing counts," Mattingly said, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. "Obviously, you can't go too far with it. But real generous."
The amount of the fine for Kemp is not yet known, but it will be interesting to see if his penalty is more than the $5,000 fine levied to Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina for a brief shove of umpire Jerry Meals during Game 1 of the series.