Umpire Brian Runge apologized to Jerry Manuel last night for his behavior during Tuesday night’s game. Apparently, Runge had spoken to his father, former umpire Paul Runge, who is a friend of Manuel’s.
Brian had ejected both Carlos Beltran and Manuel the night before and was completely responsible for escalating the situation. Manuel said Runge apologized to him when he brought the lineup card out prior to Wednesday’s game and he hoped that Runge wouldn’t get suspended for his actions.
WFAN audio clip with Jerry Manuel talking to Chris Russo about the Mets struggles this season, and specifically against the Mariners this week.
Seattle Mariners (28-49 Road: 13-25) at New York Mets (37-39 Home: 20-16) 7:10pm
Miguel Batista (3-9 6.26) vs. John Maine (7-5 3.78)
What to watch: The Mets try to avoid a home sweep at the hands of the worst team in baseball. Incredible! Maine had a good start in Colorado last Friday. Let’s hope that he can keep it going. I haven’t seen any suspensions announced from MLB yet for Jerry Manuel and Carlos Beltran. We’ll have to keep an eye on that.
Jerry Manuel and Carlos Beltran talk about getting clobbered by the hapless Mariners and their ejections from the game. Video from SNY.
Last night Carlos Beltran and Jerry Manuel were ejected from the Mariners-Mets game for arguing balls and strikes. As I said in my earlier post about the game recap, umpire Brian Runge was completely out of line and started the whole confrontation. Here’s the proof:
Thanks to Bugs and Cranks for the video tip.
The big news of the night was that Carlos Beltran and Jerry Manuel were both ejected from the game in the fourth inning for arguing balls and strikes. But umpire Brian Runge is the one that really started it. Beltran said something under his breath about a strike call, and Runge basically got in his face. Manuel came out to defend Beltran and both were tossed.
As for the game itself, Oliver Perez was putrid allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits (three home runs) and one walk. Apparently, new pitching coach Dan Warthen hasn’t been able to have an immediate positive impact on Perez. He looks the same as he has for most of this season… bad.
The only Mets hint of offense came from Brian Schneider and Fernando Tatis. They both went 3 for 4 in the game. The most difficult thing to believe about that is they were facing a knuckleballer, R.A. Dickey who’s been in and out of the minors.
It was probably the worst game of a disappointing season. Now the Mets have to try to avoid a sweep at home from the worst team in baseball tomorrow night. That’s ugly.
Mets manager Jerry Manuel talks about Felix Hernandez’ grand slam and the Mets offensive inconsistency. Johan Santana evaluates his performance against the Mariners.
The Mets Report 