[ad_1]
Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said Philadelphia Phillies manager Joe Girardi was playing games when he urged referees to check Max Scherzer for foreign material Tuesday night and embarrassed everyone in the process.
“It’s embarrassing for Gerardi, it’s embarrassing for Velez, it’s embarrassing for baseball,” Rizzo said Wednesday during an interview with The Sports Junkies on 106.7 The Fan.
Girardi became immobile and pointed at Scherzer in the middle of the fourth game on Tuesday after ace Citizens Phillies third hit businessman Alec Boehm then took off his hat and ran his hand through his sweaty hair. That prompted the referees, led by plate umpire Tim Timmons, to give up the field. Then they approached Scherzer, who was watching them and laughing sarcastically, and asked for a midway check.
1 related
Scherzer responded by throwing his hat and glove to the floor, then began to unbuckle his belt, as if to say, “Look what you want.” The judges were wandering as Scherzer shouted and pointed at Philadelphia’s bunker. Gerardi shouted.
“He’s a con artist… he’s been doing this for years on TV,” Rizzo said on Wednesday. He then said he “loves” Girardi and explored him at Northwestern, saying, “I know him well” and echoing with affirmation, “I know him well.”
Rizzo said Girardi’s actions were just “savvy” but he should have known better than he thought he could intimidate Scherzer.
The stewards, prompted by Phillies manager Joe Girardi, checked Max Scherzer’s hair for foreign matter in the fourth inning on Tuesday night. Rich Schultz / Getty Images
“He had nothing to do with the material, and he had no probable reason to order it,” Rizzo said. “The board shouldn’t have allowed it, but it happened and you have to deal with it.
“That’s what we’re going to have to deal with,” Rizzo said. “You think you’re going to scare Max Scherzer, that won’t happen. You’re just going to piss him off and make him focus even harder.”
After the fifth inning, which became Scherzer’s last inning, he walked away from the pile with his fixed gaze firmly on the Philadelphia bunker. As Scherzer mocked the Phillies’ bunker by raising his gauntlet and hat as if declaring, “I’m clean,” several members of the Nationals’ coaching staff shouted at the Phillies’ bunker. Gerardi reappeared and seemed to be pointing at someone from the Nationals and Timmons kicked him out of the game.
After the match, Girardi justified his actions, saying that he had never seen Scherzer “wipe his head like he’d never done tonight. It was fishy to me. … I didn’t mean to offend anyone. I had to do it what was right for my club.”
Sherzer, who took the win to advance 6-4 in the Nationals’ 3-2 win, said after the game that the only place he could sweat to help with his grip was his hair.
“These are Manfred’s rules,” Sherzer, referring to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, said Tuesday. “Go and ask him. I said enough is enough.”
ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle contributed to this report.
.
[ad_2]
Picture Credit!