The Beauty of a Manager Arguing a Call.
Yesterday afternoon I watched as our beloved Orioles played the greatest game in the world, here in Baltimore, at Camden Yards. An avid Oriole fan since 87' (8 years old) and I can't remember a time I have been more positively fired up about a play that went against us, caused our manager to get ejected, and the umpire was definitely correct.
Lee Mazzili, manager of the Orioles, ex-yankee first base coach, ex-Met, ex-broadway play something or another, and basic non-Baltimore kind of a guy, got tossed out of the game yesterday in great fashion.
"Tossed out of a game, isn't that a bad thing?" you might ask me.
Well, no, no it isn't. Baseball is one of the few sports remaining that doesn't use a camera or replay or whatever other stupid moron shit used to make a "sport", a game of chance and unpredictable decisions based on uncountable variables, more precise. Baseball uses human judgment based on knowledge of the rules and quickness of the senses to allow for whether a rule has been broken or play called one way or the other. This fact of human error dictating a game's possible outcome allows for one of the greatest thing in pro-sports; the arguing manager.
Yesterday, Lee was in the wrong. The ball hit by Gomez was obviously foul. From the replays on the television monitors we could tell that the ball was not playable and we had all hushed back into our seats to wait for the batter to return to the box. And then, all of a sudden, like an orange and black Tasmanian devil here come Lee Mazzilli racing out of the dugout.
Now, a little background about Lee is that he hasn't been ejected from a game. He is actually being bashed in the media and fan circles for not having enough heart. When I look at Lee in those M-Frames and that pullover, never flinching from his permanent scowl, I don't think that.
Lee in usual Italian Manager of the Year garbI think Lee was a little nervous abut getting tossed. It's his second year as manager. Joe Torre never gets tossed and that was his mentor. He believes in being calm cool and collected but I don't think he really believes it. I think he knew it was time to show some emotion to these guys. He knew it was tim to back guys playing through injuries and that on more than one occasion have been called out on close plays only to look into the dugout and see their manager sitting on his ass, not coming out to argue for them.
Listen motherfucker they are calling me a pussy in Baltimore. Throw me out you son-of-a-bitch.That is one of the greatest things about baseball. In no other sports does the game stop, and the manager runs on to the field of play to verbally annihilate the umpire. And as long as he stays away from the f-bomb, talk about the umps mothers, or as Bull Durham would say, "A word that is a certain no-no with umpires. Yeah, Crash must have called him a cocksucker. He's so romantic." then you won't get tossed. Lee dropped an F-bomb and told the guy about his mother. He got thrown out of a game. What other sport do you see that?
Besides all that, I want to talk about what I thought really happened. I thought Lee got thrown out on purpose. A manager knows that his players like to see him stand up for them. A good manager knows that umpires do have a tendency to pick less fights and allow for lead way with louder managers. And a brilliant manager knows (like Earl Weaver - Mazzilli is NOT Earl Weaver - but) that the fans love it. Eearl Weaver made Baltimore a town that could rally around his feistiness. People would go to a game in hopes that Earl would famously roust the umpire.
That a boy Lee you fucking cocksucker you. Yesterday in front of his first packed house in close to a month, Lee Mazzilli took full advantage of the idea that everyone loves watching a fesity manager fight for a scrapy team. Lee wanted the extra press. Fans wanted the extra press and I guarantee Pete "enough is never enough" Angelos wanted the extra press. He wanted the ump to toss him and I bet, for 10-1 odds, that he probably asked the ump to toss him. I'm glad he got tossed. I think 3 or 4 of those a year can help a team bond even more. If you do it all the time it becomes an eye roller but every once in a while, especially in legitimate scenarios, it is one of the best motivators in the game.
Some love for you - an Earl Weaver outtake from a live radio show where he goes nuts.
