Major League Baseball's controversial and ill-timed crackdown on pitchers using foreign substances hasn't been conducted without incident.
Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer was inspected three times for sticky stuff during his five-inning outing against the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday. The first two checks came after the first and third innings, but the third one -- instigated by Phillies manager Joe Girardi -- midway through the fourth inning enraged Scherzer, who was already annoyed by the umpires' process.
After completing his fifth inning of work, Scherzer walked off the field and stared down the Phillies' dugout. This infuriated Girardi, who then left the dugout and was ejected for shouting and gesturing toward Scherzer.
"I thought it was pretty brutal last night. It was kind of disappointing to see Joe Girardi take that route," MLB Network Radio host C.J. Nitkowski told the Tiki and Tierney show on Wednesday. "Do you really think that after getting checked twice that Max Scherzer is then going to start using something, at that point in the game with everything that's going on?... It wasn't well received and it shouldn't have been by the Nationals, their manager, their coaches.
"And then what Scherzer did after that fifth inning, I mean, I get it. He's an intense guy. We know that, we've seen it for years from him... But I didn't like it at all. I thought it was unnecessary. And do I believe -- and I've heard a couple of guys already bring this up -- [managers] just can't do this randomly. There's got to be some kind of penalty for it. So, if you're going to ask the umpires to go check the pitcher in the middle of the inning, then it's got to be just like a challenge. And if you're wrong, then you lose your challenge.
"You can't just do that to disrupt rhythm... Each guy deserves to be treated the same. I don't think there's a spot for that in the game, and like I said, there's got to be some kind of repercussion. I think based on how the first couple of days have gone, Day 1 Monday went pretty smoothly, Day 2 was an absolute debacle for the game..."
Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo ripped Girardi on Wednesday during an interview with D.C.'s 106.7 The Fan, calling the veteran skipper "a con artist" and the entire incident "embarrassing for baseball."
Under MLB's new guidelines, any player caught in possession of foreign substances will be automatically ejected and suspended for 10 games. Starting pitchers will undergo at least one mandatory check per game, and relievers must be checked either at the end of the inning when they enter the game or when they are taken out of the game.
According to Baseball Reference, batters are hitting a scant .238 this season, the second-lowest league average since the mound was lowered following the 1968 season. On top of that, the current 24-percent strikeout rate is the highest in major league history.
The entire MLB conversation between Nitkowski and Tiki and Tierney can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the Tiki and Tierney Show on Twitter @TikiAndTierney and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.