LITTLE ROCK — Maddon’s barbs find their target
Tampa Bay Manager Joe Maddon visited the mound and appeared to have some harsh words for the Rays’ pitcher during the top of the seventh inning Thursday against the San Diego Padres.
Maddon’s language was so fiery that he was ejected from the Rays’ eventual 5-3 victory.
Turns out, it was all about appearances.
While Maddon faced his pitcher and seemed to be chewing him out, his comments were intended for an umpire.
That, according to John Romano of the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, is why “one of his players couldn’t look anyone in the eye. Another struggled to keep his shoulders from shaking as he held back his laughter, and pitcher Matt Garza, the supposed target of Maddon’s ire, slowly raised his glove in front of his face, lest theworld see him grinning.
“Maddon was looking at Garza, but he was venting at secondbase umpire Gary Cederstrom after a Rays starting pitcher was called for a rare balk in a critical situation in consecutive games,” Romano wrote. “You’ve heardof a no-look pass? This was nolook passive-aggressive. Because managers are not allowed to argue balk calls, Maddon couldn’t take his case directly to the umpire.
“Somehow, the ruse was not lost on Cederstrom.
“ ‘The umpire said, ‘Are you talking to me, or are you talking to your pitcher?’ Joe said, ‘I’m talking to my pitcher,’ second baseman Reid Brignac said. ‘Then Joe started again. ... It was definitely amusing.’
“As far as Maddon is concerned, it was the right time to raise his voice.
“Even if he was pointed in the wrong direction.
“‘I do dig the umpires. I think they’re great, and we’re always going to have disagreements.
That’s why I don’t want to go anywhere near instant replay,’ Maddon said. ‘Because, to me, this is an enjoyable part of the game. Gary is a good umpire. He’s a very good umpire. And we had a moment today. It was a good moment for me. I hope it was a good moment for him.’” Octopus Paul
A 2-year-old octopus oracle - born in England, but raised in Germany - has predicted aGerman victory over England in Sunday’s World Cup game.
The mollusk named Paul chose a mussel out of a water glass marked with the German flag over a mussel in a glass with the English St. George’s Cross, said Tanja Munzig, a spokesman for the Sea Life Aquarium in the western city of Oberhausen, Germany, on Friday.
Paul has proven to be a reliable oracle in the past. He predicted Germany’s victory over Australia and Ghana and its loss to Serbia.
During the 2008 European Championship, he predicted 80 percent of all German games right, Munzig said.
“Paul’s prediction was phenomenal,” Munzig said. “He swam straight over to the German glass, climbed in and even put a lid on top once he was sitting inside. It was completely crazy.”Quick hits
From Dwight Perry of The Seattle Times: “John Wall, the oneand-done Kentucky star, already has his own Reebok shoe, the ‘ZigTech Slash.’ On the down side, they’re only good for one year.”
Fan’s sign spotted at a North Korean World Cup game: “Kim Jong-Il thinks I’m at work.”Quote of the day
“It becomes a bit of a tired act.” Chicago Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry on the behavior of pitcher Carlos Zambrano
Sports, Pages 22 on 06/26/2010