Somewhere Lou Piniella is smiling.
Second-year Miami Marlins manager Mike Redmond didn’t take kindly to rookie umpire Will Little’s called third strike on Adeiny Hechavarria in the bottom of the sixth on Monday night at Marlins Park.
I’m no professional lip-reader, but I feel like a few not-so-family-friendly words may have been uttered there. I’m actually really surprised the Fox Sports Florida cameras zoomed in on Redmond’s antics so willingly, without so much as a blurring of the mouth as he let it fly.
I have to say Redmond does have an argument. The pitch seemed to be a bit inside and definitely up and in. Hechavarria responds to the delivery as if he thought the ball might hit him. Redmond obviously didn’t have the best viewing angle from the dugout, so perhaps his batter’s reaction indicated to him that the pitch probably wasn’t a strike.
But Hechavarria was rung up anyway, and Redmond proceeded to explode from the dugout steps before confronting Little behind the plate.
Little seemed to toss Redmond from the game almost immediately. From there on out, Miami’s skipper decided to get his money’s worth.
And he did.
The kicking of the dirt is a nice touch, and one that we seldom see anymore in Major League Baseball. Bonus points for Redmond ruffling dirt in the umpire’s box as he loudly got his point across.
Redmond yanking his jersey untucked as he left the playing field was icing on the cake. He received a standing ovation from the crowd.
Well done, Mike Redmond.