Everyone is on edge with the new sticky substance rules in baseball including Phillies manager Joe Girardi and Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer.
The early days of MLB’s new policy regarding sticky substances have been nothing short of a circus. Umpires, at their discretion, are checking pitchers in between innings. Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer was not a fan of his inspections on Tuesday against the Phillies, going as far as unbuckling his belt to see if the umps wanted to inspect down below.
Throughout the game, Scherzer was being stopped, but in the fourth inning Phillies manager Joe Girardi requested that the umpires check the right-hander in the middle of the inning. Scherzer wasn’t happy, and he shared a long stare-down with the Phillies’ skipper before Girardi was eventually ejected for stepping out of the dugout to confront Mad Max.
It’s hard to fault Scherzer for being so upset. Tensions are high for all pitchers right now, and they’re bound to blow over when the opposing team’s manager is requesting he be inspected mid-game like that.
Adding to the frustrations is probably the fact each of these teams has underperformed thus far. Both the Nationals and Phillies share a 34-36 record and sit four games back of first place in the NL East.
Joe Girardi was ejected after a long stare-down with Max Scherzer.
Having spent 15 seasons as a big-league catcher, Girardi isn’t going to back down from a little trash talk even at 56-years old. It’s the former player in him, and it’s a competitive fire he’s trying to instill in a mediocre Phillies team.
As far as Scherzer and the sticky stuff, many pointed out his spin rate numbers were significantly down during his start last night.
Despite this, Scherzer still pitched fairly well in his first start coming off a groin injury. The right-hander allowed one earned run on two hits while striking out eight and walking three across five innings.
Scherzer and the Nationals got the last laugh over Girardi and Philly with a 3-2 win. Assuming no one gets traded or fired, there are plenty of matchups between these two squads this season which should make for some entertaining baseball.