Joe Girardi covers home plate in dirt, rips umpire following ejection
A wild week around Major League Baseball continued Saturday as Joe Girardi launched into an epic on-field and off-field tirade following his ejection from the Yankees 9-5 loss to the Rays.
The Yankees manager was tossed in the fifth inning on the heels of pitching coach Larry Rothschild being ejected. Both were less than pleased with home plate umpire Scott Barry’s strike zone.
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After getting the boot, Girardi went old school Yankees, breaking out Billy Martin’s routine of covering home plate in dirt.
Joe Girardi scoops dirt onto home plate after being ejected, and the home plate umpire leaves the dirt there. Bush league.
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The ejection was Girardi’s 34th as a manager, and his 32rd as Yankees manager. It wasn’t his first rodeo by any means, but it might be the first time we’ve seen him dust off the old dust up trick. In fact, it seems like it’s been awhile since we’ve seen any major league manager break that one out, but it certainly never gets old.
Girardi’s beef didn’t end there though. Barry’s nonchalant reaction to Girardi’s explosive reaction set him off even more as he explained during the postgame version of his tirade.
“I didn’t appreciate the way he threw Larry out,’’ said Girardi, who was ejected for the second time this season. “I went out to ask him why he threw him out. He said, you can’t come out and argue either, you are gone, too. I thought he stared down some of our hitters for longer than he needed to when they questioned calls.’’
Barry didn’t remove the dirt Girardi swept onto the plate before the next pitch was thrown, and that annoyed the manager.
“I am not very appreciative of that as well,’’ Girardi said.
That might seem sensitive, but it comes down to a respect issue. It’s almost as if Barry brushed Girardi by not brushing off the the plate. Whenever you’re dealing with respect or “unwritten rules” in baseball there’s a thin line between what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable. Rarely is that line consistent from person to person, but Girardi’s anger there is consistent with how managers expect to be treated.
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Perhaps Girardi was a little stressed by the struggles of Saturday’s starter Masahiro Tanaka. The Yankees ace allowed six runs on nine hits (three home runs), while walking three and striking out four. Over his last 14 innings, Tanaka has given up 10 homers and 22 runs. That’s something that had to be weighing on Girardi’s mind.
Whatever the main source of his frustration was on Saturday, Girardi clearly wasn’t in the mood to deal with Scott Barry.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
