Tempers flare as White Sox LHP Jose Quintana gets ejected, from game three of three, against the Rays Wednesday. A strong warning was then issued to both dugouts in the fourth inning, by Home Plate Umpire Mark Wegner.
It appeared to have all started when White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski slid “spikes-up” into Ben Zobrist at second base yesterday. Then during today’s game, Rays’ Alex Cobb planted one on Pierzynski as a “reminder” of the difference between playing hard and playing dirty. Quintana then came out in the fourth inning, threw a pitch knee-high behind Zobrist that would quickly get Wegner’s ejection handle pulled.
One of the most comical things to come from this is Ken “Hawk” Harrelson losing his mind when Quintana was ejected. He would only be cut short in his tirade by a commercial interruption.
“What are you doing, Wegner? You’ve got to be kidding me. That is so bad, that is absolutely brutal. That is unbelievable. I’ll tell you what, they have got to start making guys be accountable. That is totally absurd. That just tells you he has — here’s an umpire in the American League knows nothing about the game of baseball. That’s unbelievable.”
The Bleacher Report stated on September 27, 2011; A.J. Pierzynski is one of the seven “dirtiest players” in Major League Baseball.
Is it “unbelievable” that the umpire was getting control of the game before someone really gets hurt? The fact that the White Sox were hit last in the exchange doesn’t make it alright to continue trying to hit batters.