Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker had a lot to say after umpire Jerry Layne got in Jeremy Pena’s face for no good reason.
Jerry Layne was on one Tuesday night.
While most would think fans at Minute Maid Park came out to watch the Houston Astros face the Minnesota Twins, apparently it was all about the ump show.
Layne is a veteran at this point, having umped for decades. He didn’t take kindly to Houston’s young shortly, Jeremy Peña, who disagreed with a strike call. Peña tried to handle the situation with class, knowing that any sort of overreaction would get him ejected.
Astros: Dusty Baker defends Jeremy Pena
If anything, it seems Layne took the conversation to an unnecessary level, getting in Peña’s face for a mistake he made, rather than the young shortstop. Umpires, as we know, a notoriously well-known for failing to admit their own wrongdoings. FanSided’s Cody Williams dove into this interaction on Tuesday night:
“It’s one thing to get heated with a player arguing a call, but Peña appeared to be keeping his cool relatively well in spite of his disagreement with the call, and then Layne escalated the situation, which resulted in the ejection of a Houston coach. Had Layne simply called time for a quick conversation instead of stepping into the box for a confrontation, seemingly picking a fight, that all could’ve been avoided.”
After the game, Astros manager Dusty Baker took exception to Layne’s actions, which included ejecting his hitting coach, Alex Cintron.
“In modern times, it doesn’t happen too much. Back in my time, it happened all the time. So, are we in modern times or are we in past times with a veteran umpire?” Baker asked.
For Layne, it might as well be the 1980’s, where such interactions between players and umpires were deemed normal. Now? Well, it just distracts from a good baseball game.