As you may have read, the Orioles had a trio of ejections — first baseman Ty Wigginton, pitching coach Rick Kranitz and interim manager Juan Samuel — that went down in the seventh innings of Thursday’s 5-0 loss to the Twins. The fully story is up, and you can read it here.
Here are some more quotes on that..
Ty Wigginton, who was ejected for arguing a call which first base umpire Gary Darling later admitted he got wrong…
“I don’t think they’ll be anything other than a normal ejection. In baseball you’ve got the option of questioning a call, and he ejected me for questioning a call.
“You get the leadoff guy on [in J.J. Hard] and he goes first pitch and we get him hung out to dry. I felt he was out. Getting that leadoff guy out would be a big part in the game. You’re four runs down, that’s one swing of the bat and it’s a tie ballgame.
“[First base umpire Gary Darling] said I missed him. I felt he was out. We’re in last place, and anytime you’re in last place there’s a lot of frustration in the season. Obviously that’s not where we wanted to be. Frustration is all part of the game.”
Rick Kranitz who was ejected one out after Wigginton for his actions on the bench when Hardy scored…
“I didn’t say anything [to get ejected]. I sarcastically clapped in the way that the umpire, I guess [home plate ump] Bill Hohn took offense to. Yeah you know I shouldn’t have done that. It wasn’t the right thing to do, but you know, you get frustrated. Especially when Kevin [Millwood has] been on the mound, crazy things have happened when he pitched. And he was on a pretty good roll on the time, it was reaction, shouldn’t have happened.”
“Sure there’s frustration. I think anytime you are not winning ball games, as many as we think we should be winning. [Twins starter Carl] Pavano had that game in hand, obviously. That call didn’t change the outcome of the game by any stretch of the imagination. It was just frustration on everybody’s part. I think we’re all tired of losing some ball games. And when something happens and it doesn’t go our way, you say and do things you shouldn’t do.”
“I was a little bit surprised with [the ejection.] Yeah, I am. I’m surprised.”
Juan Samuel who was ejected for sticking up for Kranitz…
”We thought Wiggy tagged [Hardy] not once but twice. Gary after watching the replay probably will admit it was a blown call. Unfortunately, he didn’t go out way. Basically Kranny didn’t do anything to get thrown out o the game, so I guess emotions were very high tonight. And as a result, we saw what happened.”
(oh really?): “I don’t think I was angry tonight. I just didn’t think Kranny deserved to be thrown out. He did not do anything basically to deserve being thrown out. I don’t know if they know that they blew the call and fuses were very short.”
“Kranny didn’t say anything. That’s what I was trying to tell Bill Hohn. Kranny did not say anything. I was trying to tell him. How can you blame Kranny when one of your guys blew the call? Kranny didn’t deserve that. He didn’t miss the call.”
“I did not see Wiggy touch [Darling]. I did not see a replay. I did not see any video. I was just trying to make sure we didn’t do something that we would not be proud of. I was trying to restrain him a little bit. I did not see Wiggy touch him.”
Umpire Bill Hohn on Kranitz..
“I ejected him for his actions on the bench, is the reason why he got ejected. He knows the reason why he got ejected. You saw what he did on the field.”
Umpire Gary Darling, who said Wigginton bumped him in the chest during his tirade…
“I will send in my report to the league and they make the decision on anything.”
Darling also admitted Hardy was out..
“We looked at it, [Wigginton] missed him the first time and on a close play, he got him the second time it looked like. It was a close play.”
J.J. Hardy…
“I thought I was [safe] until I saw the replay…I just got done talking to [Wigginton] and it seemed like he was in a pretty good mood. I think maybe we were talking about the weather before that pitch and he said it’s been really hot and then the next thing I know, he’s up in Darling’s face.”
