I confess I’m still bothered by the scene in 2012 when Jason Werth, playing outfield for the Washington Nationals,  broke his wrist on a diving catch in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies and the Philadelphia crowd jeered him. There seems to be something about Philadelphia.

Last night, 3-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, fresh off an injury of his own, was pitching against the Phillies, now managed by former Yankees manager Joe Girardi. Because of renewed concerns in major league baseball about pitchers using illegal substances to get better or different spins on pitches, it was apparently thought appropriate for the umpires to check Max. Not once, not twice, but three times –after the first inning, after the third inning and then, unbelievably, in the middle of the fourth inning. Scherzer was upset to have his inning interrupted and, of course, nothing amiss was discovered. https://atmlb.com/3gRbxR6

This fourth check was apparently instigated by Girardi who, after Max struck out the final batter of the inning, came out of the dugout and began challenging Scherzer to meet him on the field for, presumably, a physical altercation that would, almost certainly, have resulted in Max being ejected and both dugouts would have engaged in the typical scrum. Instead, Max smartly remained in the dugout and, appropriately, Girardi was ejected.

Bob Carpenter, the Nationals announcer, was upset, also understandably, remarking that if this kind of gamesmanship is permitted, a manager could easily disrupt a possible no-hitter in the middle of the ninth inning and throw off a pitcher’s timing.

This was a chump move by Girardi. Major League Baseball needs to be careful here to assure that the concerns about substances on baseballs do not turn the game into a contest of repeated disruptions to damage pitcher performance. To be clear, I don’t think pitchers should be permitted to use anything other than the classic rosin bag that has been part of baseball for a very long time, but this should not lead to disrupting a pitcher in the middle of an inning as occurred in Philadelphia last night. Girardi coming out of the dugout to entice Scherzer to fight on the field was completely unacceptable, and he should be fined substantially for it. Just my opinion.