Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said Philadelphia Phillies manager, Joe Girardi, was playing when he urged the referees to check Max scherzer for foreign substances Tuesday night and embarrassed everyone in the process.
“It’s embarrassing for Girardi, it’s embarrassing for the Phillies, it’s embarrassing for baseball,” Rizzo said Wednesday during an interview with The Sports Junkies on 106.7 The Fan.
Girardi perked up and pointed at Scherzer in the middle of the fourth inning Tuesday after the Nationals ace struck out the Phillies third baseman. Alec bohm and then he took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair, which was saturated with sweat. That spurred umpires, led by plate umpire Tim Timmons, to confer on the field. They then approached Scherzer, who had been watching them and laughing wryly, and requested a mid-entry inspection.
Scherzer responded by throwing his hat and glove to the ground, then began to unbuckle his belt, as if to say, “Look what you want.” The umpires poked around as Scherzer yelled and pointed at the Phillies dugout. Girardi yelled in response.
“He’s a scammer … he’s been doing it for years on television,” Rizzo said Wednesday. Then he said he “loves” Girardi and sought him out at Northwestern, saying, “I know him well” and repeating emphatically, “I know him well.”
Rizzo said Girardi’s actions were purely “playable,” but that he should have known before he thought he could intimidate Scherzer.
“It had nothing to do with substances, he had no probable cause for asking,” Rizzo said. “The referees shouldn’t have allowed it, but it happened and you have to deal with it.
“This is what we’re going to have to deal with. You think you’re going to bully a Max Scherzer, it’s just not going to happen. You’re going to piss him off and make him focus a lot more.”
After the fifth inning, which became Scherzer’s last inning, he left the mound with his gaze fixed on the Philadelphia dugout. As Scherzer taunted the Phillies bench by holding up his glove and hat as if to say, “I’m clean,” several members of the Nationals coaching staff yelled on the Phillies bench. Girardi resurfaced and appeared to call someone on the Nationals’ side and Timmons kicked him out of the game.
After the game, Girardi justified his actions, saying that he had never seen Scherzer “wipe his head like he was doing tonight, never. It was suspicious to me … I didn’t mean to offend anyone. I just had to do what’s right. for my club “.
Scherzer, who clinched the 3-2 victory and improved his record to 6-4 by the Nationals 3-2, said after the game that the only place he could sweat to help with his grip was his hair.
“These are the Manfred rules,” Scherzer said Tuesday, referring to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. “Go ask him. I’ve said enough.”
ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle contributed to this report.
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