If nothing else, you have to admire Joe Girardi for sticking to his guns.
It was one week ago that the Philadelphia Phillies manager suspected Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer of using an illegal substance on baseballs. After no less than three searches by umpires, Scherzer was deemed clean and Girardi was shown the door after coming on the field for an animated argument with Nationals dugout.
“I’ve seen Max a long time,” Girardi said after the game. “Since 2010. Obviously, he’s going to be a Hall of Famer. But I’ve never seen him wipe his head like he was doing tonight, ever. It was suspicious for me. I didn’t mean to offend anyone. I’ve just got to do what’s right for our club.”
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Scherzer insisted he was touching his hair to mix the moisture from his sweat with rosin –– a gripping substance that’s still league approved. Water and rosin has helped Scherzer gain a grip on the ball in the past, and while he usually uses saliva, the foul taste irritated him, he said, so he opted for sweat instead.
“I would be a super fool to use something (Tuesday),” he said. “You can check whatever you want. Take all my clothes off if you want. I have absolutely nothing on me. ... The whole night, I was sick of licking my fingers and tasting rosin all night.”
Yet one week later, Girardi told MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM that if he had to do it all over again, he wouldn’t change a thing.
“If it’s someone that maybe doesn’t have the pedigree or the experience that Max has, maybe it’s not such a big deal but because it’s Max, I get it. You know, that’s something that I also have to live with, and again, I’m OK with that decision. I said after the game, Max is a Hall-of-Fame pitcher and I have all the respect for him. I mean, this guy’s a bulldog, and he’s been great, and I’ve watched him for 10, 11 years pitch against my teams or on TV. And I’ve never seen him do that. So I did something that a lot of people didn’t perceive to be the right thing to do, but I have my bosses that I have to answer to. I care about this game deeply and how it’s going to go forward, and what’s coming into the game.
“I guess, looking back on it, I probably do expect it, and it will probably continue some, but that’s OK. I gotta do what I think is right. And I look at this deeper in a lot of situations, because I do care about our game. You know, I can only manage for so long, but I’m gonna watch this game for a long, long time, and I want to be entertained. I want it to be fair on both sides. I lived through the steroids era. I have the numbers to prove I didn’t take steroids. I hit about two-and-a-quarter home runs per year. And I want the game to be something people want to watch, where there’s action and it’s fun to watch.”
Tuesday’s incident came after MLB announced new rules and restrictions on foreign substances, which went into effect eight days ago. Players caught using sticky substances such as Spider Tack face a 10-day suspension.
(NJ Advance Media’s Ryan Novozinsky contributed to this report.)
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