Arizona Diamondbacks, L.A. Dodgers renew rivalry, revisit beanball past
Mar 24, 2015, 12:00 AM | Updated: 2:35 pm
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Bad blood knows no bounds.
That includes spring training, apparently.
Arizona Diamondbacks first-year manager Chip Hale and pitcher Allen Webster both were ejected in the bottom of the fifth inning of Monday’s Cactus League game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Camelback Ranch.
The Dodgers won, 7-4.
Their exits followed Webster hitting Los Angeles first baseman Justin Turner, who had been plunked earlier in the game by starter Daniel Hudson.
Home plate umpire Tom Woodring issued warnings to both dugouts after Turner’s first-inning hit-by-pitch, which followed Mark Trumbo getting nailed on his left hand in the half inning prior by Dodgers right-hander Chris Anderson.
“That was interesting. It is what it is,” Hudson said of the warnings. “Guy gets hit in the first, ball gets away from me and a guy gets hit. Obviously, it being D-backs, Dodgers, it’s no secret. There’s a little bit of a history there the last couple of years. It is what it is. I don’t think anybody was trying to hit anybody today. It’s spring training, why would we try to hit somebody?”
Hale, on the other hand, was not surprised that warnings were issued, even that early in the game.
“I know Bill (Miller, crew chief) was worried about the history of the two teams,” he said. “He’s a good umpire. I’ve known Bill for years. I think he just didn’t want anything to get out of hand. He didn’t know what was going on because the one thing we don’t ever know is what goes on between the ears and what’s the intent. Hudson, in (the clubhouse) we talked, and he clearly said he was not trying to hit (Turner). But it doesn’t matter. The umpires cannot figure that out. They’re not psychiatrists, they’re not psychologists so they have to do what they have to do, so we knew once the warnings were issued, we knew (ejections were next).”
Trumbo, by the way, remained in the game until he was lifted for a pinch runner in the sixth.
“Yeah, I was very worried,” Hale said of Trumbo, who had the pitch graze his hand. “Mark has got off to a great start. He’s healthy. The last thing we need is for him to hurt his hand.”
Later in the eighth, D-backs minor league pitcher Derek Eitel hit Dodgers minor leaguer Dillon Moyer. That got Eitel tossed from the game as well as bench coach Glenn Sherlock, who had been acting manager in Hale’s absence.
