Thursday, June 13, 2002
Angels 8, Pirates 5
The Associated Press
ANAHEIM, Calif. — At least this time, Pittsburgh manager Lloyd McClendon left first base where it was after being ejected by his old buddy, Rick Reed. McClendon and bench coach Bill Virdon both were tossed by Reed's umpiring crew during Wednesday night's 8-5 loss to the Anaheim Angels.
David Eckstein's tiebreaking, bases-loaded triple in the seventh inning came long after McClendon was sent to the showers.
“I'm sure his report will say that I said or did something, but that's not the way it went down. I'm puzzled. I'm still scratching my head,” McClendon said. “I wish his report to Bob Watson could be public knowledge, so everybody can see what he writes as to why he put me out of that game. That would be really interesting. That would be justice.”
Angels manager Mike Scioscia came out to argue with first base umpire Tim Tschida in the fourth, contending that Kevin Young was impeding the lead Eckstein was trying to take off first base.
“We were talking about obstruction and line of sight for the runner,” Scioscia said. “The first baseman is not allowed to jockey for position and block the line of vision of the runner. It's subject to interpretation, though. Tim didn't think it happened.”
Eckstein also had to dance around Young in the second inning in order to advance on Benji Gil's infield single.
“Kevin's legal. They do the same thing,” McClendon said. “He's not trying to block the runner. The runner chose to stand next to Kevin. Kevin didn't choose to stand next to him.”
Reed walked toward the Pittsburgh dugout after getting an earful from McClendon, then gave him the heave-ho after the two went nose-to-nose on the field for about 10 seconds.
“I didn't have a beef. He rushed the dugout and threw me out of the game. I'm still trying to figure out why I got thrown out,” McClendon said. “All I did was point out to the umpire that my pitcher's standing there and we're ready to go. I mean, if you're going to argue a point, make your point and let's move on.”
It was the third ejection this season for McClendon, who was banished from a game last June 26 by Reed for protesting a close call at first base against Kendall and took the bag back to the clubhouse with him. Reed also thumbed McClendon during an exhibition game this spring in Sarasota, Fla.
“He was a bit abusive in his language. I didn't care for the lack of respect that he showed when he asked a question. It got to the point where he had to go,” Reed said.
“He showed a definite lack of respect for this crew. Then all of a sudden, he started getting off on stuff that happened last year. I didn't even remember that. I guess there may have been something that he remembered, but it shouldn't have come into play on a night like tonight,” he said.
Virdon took over — and got ejected by Tschida in the Angels sixth after a disputed play at first. Bengie Molina hit a ball off Sean Lowe's foot and it ricocheted to Young, whose flip was in time to get the slow-footed Molina. But Tschida ruled that Lowe's foot missed the bag as he stumbled over it.
“I thought he missed the play,” Virdon said. “Sean had the ball and dragged his foot across the bag. All you have to do is look at the replay. That's what I told him. Let's hope he has to look at that replay.”
After Virdon was tossed, third-base coach Trent Jewett ran the club the rest of the game without further incident.
With the score 4-all in the seventh, Eckstein — who leads the majors with three grand slams this season — hit a sinking liner that skipped off center fielder Chad Hermansen's knee and caromed past right fielder Craig Wilson.
“I saw it well coming off the bat — a low sinker that stayed low to the ground,” Hermansen said. “It was one of those in-betweeners where you think, "Do I dive for it or stay back?' And I felt I didn't feel I had a chance to dive for it because I thought it would hit the ground. So I stayed back on it and it skipped up on me and hit me in the knee.”
Scott Spiezio added an RBI single in the eighth and Ben Weber (3-2) earned the victory with two innings of relief, allowing a run and four hits. Troy Percival got three outs for his 15th save in 17 attempts.
Brian Boehringer (2-1) took the loss.
Notes: The Angels are 6-2 on the nights when the Lakers have clinched an NBA title. They didn't play on June 19, 2000, when the Lakers won the seventh of their nine championships in Los Angeles. ... The Angels and Dodgers will begin their three-game Freeway Series at Los Angeles one game out of first place in their divisions. In the previous five seasons of interleague play, the only time either team was in first place at the start of a head-to-head series was June 1998, when the Angels had the lead.
Reds Stories
Xavier hires Notre Dame assistant as women's coach
Busch race draws crowd to Speedway
Lakers' 3-peat sweet
Shaq gets third title, third MVP
Jackson ties Auerbach with nine titles
Martin shows 'All-Star potential'
DAUGHERTY: 'People's Open?' Pull-eeze
U.S. Open Facts & Figures
U.S. Open will soon lose public spirit
Sharon Woods, Open course share lineage
Wings' Cup quest could end tonight
Poland (0-2) has United States worried
Coming up this week
Football all-stars play tonight
Princeton's Barnett picks Michigan St.
Loveland's Buskirk commits to Miami
CovCath meets Webster Co. in baseball semifinal
• Return to Reds front page...
Angels 8, Pirates 5 
