Speaker 1: Giants D-backs. It's the start of a four-game series to
Speaker 1: be played out in the next three days. The Giants
Speaker 1: and Arizona. I'm John Miller with today's Tony Vitello show. Now,
Speaker 1: first off, Tony, you got ejected yesterday right away. It
Speaker 1: seemed to be about a check swing and you were
Speaker 1: unhappy and you made yourself your unhappiness known to the
Speaker 1: umpires from what we could see upstairs. And why did
Speaker 1: you get such a quick hook there?
Speaker 2: I think that's probably a storyline in itself. But, yeah,
Speaker 2: as far as the play goes, we're seeing a right-handed
Speaker 2: hitter's back. And the rule for actual check swing is
Speaker 2: no one could ever find you a great definition. But
Speaker 2: he didn't turn the bat over, but his bat went
Speaker 2: way out in front of his body, past his body
Speaker 2: where we could see. So it's at least worth arguing,
Speaker 2: but also just– you know, a heightened sense of awareness
Speaker 2: and intensity, I guess, when you got Webby going back
Speaker 2: out there after a very difficult outing, one of the
Speaker 2: most of his career, and you want things to go
Speaker 2: well for him. So I just want to make sure infield, myself,
Speaker 2: everybody's fighting as hard as possible, or at least at
Speaker 2: the same level as Webby. And, you know, all I
Speaker 2: said is he swung, you know, and then the umpire
Speaker 2: kind of escalated things from there. It kind of challenges you.
Speaker 2: You're going to say something back or not say something back. So,
Speaker 2: didn't say any, you know, curse words or anything crazy,
Speaker 2: but again, just try to defend our guy.
Speaker 1: All right. Then all of a sudden he, uh, uh,
Speaker 1: you're in the dugout, he's at home plate and he,
Speaker 1: he gives you the thumb and, uh, and then you
Speaker 1: had a few words with him. Yeah.
Speaker 2: At that point, everybody in the dugout reacted, uh, you know,
Speaker 2: I was kind of caught up in it all and
Speaker 2: everyone else reacted like that was pretty quick or, you know,
Speaker 2: not necessarily the correct move. Um, so that's when I
Speaker 2: decided to go out there and defend myself and, say
Speaker 2: I'm not attacking anybody, just want you to get the
Speaker 2: call right for our guy that's on the mound, and
Speaker 2: that's kind of why I pointed to Webby. But nonetheless,
Speaker 2: what's done is done, and I respect the fact that
Speaker 2: our guys played well. I don't think that had anything
Speaker 2: to do with it, but you do want everybody's intensity
Speaker 2: level matching what is the standard, and I think we've
Speaker 2: been working through that all year. At the very least,
Speaker 2: our guys are competing. We certainly needed to compete in
Speaker 2: the zone better in the ninth inning, But the position
Speaker 2: group did what they needed to do to put us
Speaker 2: in a place to win, and also Webby had yet
Speaker 2: another great start.
Speaker 1: I do remember ESPN made maybe Baseball Tonight or one
Speaker 1: of their shows years ago that there was nothing in
Speaker 1: the rulebook about a check swing, and the rulebook basically
Speaker 1: talked about whether you swung at the ball or not.
Speaker 1: And so the guy running the umpires at that time
Speaker 1: organized gave the directive to the umpires to determine, did
Speaker 1: the hitter attempt to strike the ball? And that was
Speaker 1: as far as they went with defining a swing or
Speaker 1: a check swing. And I thought at that time that, well,
Speaker 1: that means any time the guy stops his swing, then
Speaker 1: he didn't attempt to strike the ball. Right.
Speaker 2: Well, I haven't picked up on, because I'm trying to watch,
Speaker 2: and whether it's right or not, I'll say I'm trying
Speaker 2: to learn. And I have not seen any consistent approach
Speaker 2: on what is or what isn't at this level. I've
Speaker 2: always told guys I've coached that there is no clear
Speaker 2: rule what the guys in my past are doing from
Speaker 2: what I've observed is if you're out of control, they
Speaker 2: tend to call it. If you're under control, they don't.
Speaker 2: And so that's something that I've always talked to guys about.
Speaker 2: You shouldn't be out of control at the plate to
Speaker 2: begin with. And if you are, the umpire is reminding
Speaker 2: you by calling it a strike. Now, if it's strike three,
Speaker 2: you better adjust for your next at-bat. You don't have
Speaker 2: time that at-bat. At this level, I haven't picked up
Speaker 2: on any pattern. Obviously, these hitters are under control a
Speaker 2: lot more than those. Suarez didn't, you know, he didn't
Speaker 2: start to finish the swing or turn the bat over.
Speaker 2: But again, at the end of the day, I don't
Speaker 2: think it's clearly defined, and all we're trying to do
Speaker 2: is make sure our guys are hooked up and they're
Speaker 2: getting what they earn.
Speaker 1: All right, so... Today, the Giants and the D-backs, we'll
Speaker 1: talk about that when today's Tony Vitello show continues. Now
Speaker 1: more Tony Vitello with the skipper of the Giants, and
Speaker 1: Cabrera goes for Arizona, and I don't know that the
Speaker 1: Giants have seen him. He's just been brought back from
Speaker 1: the minor leagues today to make this start. The D-backs,
Speaker 1: who have their own shortage of pitching on a day-to-day basis,
Speaker 1: And while I'm at it, for the Giants, the bullpen
Speaker 1: in the last four days has pitched about 21 innings,
Speaker 1: which may have caught up to them, part of the
Speaker 1: story in that ninth inning yesterday. But how's the bullpen
Speaker 1: for today? And I know Landon Roops on the mound.
Speaker 1: It seems like you would need him to go fairly
Speaker 1: deep in this game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's still a little weary. We're in the
Speaker 2: middle of a stretch that's as long as any we're
Speaker 2: going to have in the season. And then you've got
Speaker 2: a lot of outings. that have been cut short as
Speaker 2: far as starting pitching, and a lot of games that
Speaker 2: have gone down to the wire. So you've had a
Speaker 2: lot of pitches, a lot of high-intensity pitches, and a
Speaker 2: lot of guys up. So we'll have to lean on
Speaker 2: three or four guys. You know, Roxby's fresh. He was
Speaker 2: here yesterday. But it's going to be a small group
Speaker 2: we'll lean on down there, and there's going to be
Speaker 2: some guys that need some time to get rested and
Speaker 2: get back to where they're available.
Speaker 1: All right, so here we go. The Giants trying to
Speaker 1: bounce back today against the D-backs on Sunday. different accounts
Speaker 1: and facts. So it's the Giants D-backs, and that's the
Speaker 1: Tony Vitello show for today.