(610 Sports) – With Major League Baseball beginning its crackdown of pitchers using foreign substances, we've already seen several contentious moments between not only pitchers and umpires, but also between pitchers and managers.
Joining Fescoe in the Morning on 610 Sports Radio, Royals' manager Mike Matheny discussed MLB's newest rule and how he plans to approach concerns of an opposing pitcher using something an illegal substance.
"To you as a manager in this game, how do you plan to approach, I don't want to say challenging, but asking the umpires to check a pitcher," asked show host Bob Fescoe? "Is that something that you've thought about and plan on doing?"
"No, not unless we feel there's something blatant going on, but they're gonna be ahead of that before we get there," Matheny responded. "The only time I'm gonna get painted into a corner, guys, is if they come after one of our pitchers, and then I'm gonna check every single person that walks on the field."
"I mean, if they open up that can of worms, then it's gonna get ugly," said Matheny. "Let the umpires do their thing, once the managers start getting involved and feeling like this is something their supposed to control, that's when I think this is really, as you saw last night. I don't blame Davey, he was frustrated because they were taking his ace and his starter, whose already been checked a few times and kinda taking him outta his rhythm."
Of course, Matheny is referencing Washington Nationals starter Max Scherzer, who on Tuesday night, Phillies' manager Joe Girardi asked for Scherzer to be checked for a third time in 5 innings, leading to a staredown of Girardi from Scherzer and Girardi coming out of the dugout, ultimately leading to Girardi's ejection.
"It's a distraction, the whole thing's already a distraction," said Matheny. "But for the managers to initiate that, I think that's all of a sudden when you're gonna start seeing some issues."
Listen to the rest of the interview with Mike Matheny by clicking the player below:
