Larry Bowa went over the edge of oblivion Tuesday night, exploding on officials and New York Mets players in a meltdown seemingly in the making since Monday’s 16-7 home loss.
The Philadelphia Phillies bench coach was ejected in the seventh inning of Tuesday’s game after a tirade sparked by Mets righty Hansel Robles seemingly trying to sneak another quick pitch past a Phillies batter.
The first occasion occurred Monday night, when Robles slung a ball past Cameron Rupp while he was setting up in the batter’s box. When Robles appeared to try it again Tuesday against Darin Ruf, all hell broke loose in quick order inside the Phillies dugout.
Phillies outfielder Jeff Francoeur was the first to complain, running to the top of the dugout stairs and yelling at home plate umpire Dan Bellino.
Bowa quickly outdid his right fielder, rushing out to tear into Bellino and immediately getting ejected.
While he eventually retreated into the clubhouse, Bowa left the game with some handpicked parting words for Mets infielder Daniel Murphy.
He dropped a few F-bombs and appeared to threaten Murphy with a beanball in the guts—or he was just telling Murphy he needed to “vacuum” his jersey. Either/or.
The Phillies bench coach was not made available to the media after the game, but as NJ.com’s Randy Miller reports, Francoeur minced few words while explaining his anger over Robles’ pitching.
“That was chicken s–t,” Francoeur said. “My whole point was let the guy get in the box. If they can’t understand why I was upset about that… Even Dan Bellino was freaking out behind the plate when [the pitch] was coming. That’s when I started screaming.”
This is true. Bellino put his hand up right as Robles began his motion, but sometimes you have to just ignore the haters and pitch through the warning tracks, apparently.
It does say something about Robles’ tactics that his teammate and catcher, Travis d’Arnaud, agreed that the pitch was early and possibly even dangerous, per ESPN’s Adam Rubin:
I just know the guy’s head was down. I think the rule is you can’t throw it until at least they’re looking at him. So I was telling him to wait. He threw it. You never know what could happen in that situation when you’re looking down and something like that happens.
On a hilarious and possibly related note, d’Arnaud accidentally had the best bat flip of the 2015 season after taking a walk in the sixth inning.
After the game, d’Arnaud apologized profusely for the flip, per NJ.com’s Mike Vorkunov:
“It was definitely over the top,” d’Arnaud said. “I had too much pine tar on my hands. It’s disrespecting the game and that’s not the player I am. I said sorry to as many people as I could before I got to first.”
Whether this primed the pump for Bowa’s later antics, only Bowa will ever know.
As for the game, the Mets went on to win 6-5 and will face Philadelphia again Wednesday night for the third game of the Phillies’ four-game homestand.
Don’t be surprised if jerseys are vacuumed.
Dan is on Twitter. Maybe Bowa was just inviting Murphy out for ribs.
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