Bourn appeals 1-game suspension

BALTIMORE -- Michael Bourn has bumped into an umpire before to the point where he knew he deserved a suspension and took it without a fuss.

That wasn't the case when he made contact with umpire Phil Cuzzi on June 16 at Wrigley Field and was suspended one game for the incident. Bourn appealed his case in a video conference with MLB officials on Friday, and hopes his message will be understood.

"Both sides got to state their case," Bourn said. "Hopefully it comes out on my side. I feel like I didn't deserve to get thrown out of the game, and I did. I feel like I didn't say anything that was derogatory to the umpire."

Bourn has had plenty of time to serve his one-game suspension, but truly felt like he had done nothing wrong in this instance. He said that the contact was completely unintentional and that no unpleasant words were exchanged between the two.

"If you are derogatory to the umpire, kind of put him down and try and belittle him a little bit, I think then you can get suspended for doing that," Bourn said. "None of that was going on when we were talking. That's why I didn't understand what the problem was."

Bourn was in the lineup for the first game of Sunday's doubleheader against the Orioles, and said he expects to hear a decision on his suspension appeal in about a week.