Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.
I am of the belief that, at times, a manager can inspire his club by getting ejected from a game.
Not always, but at times.
Tuesday night was one of those times.
It was pretty clear to see that Padres rookie manager Andy Green struck a chord with his team when he went ballistic arguing the reversal of a reversal with crew chief Brian Gorman.
When Green came out to challenge the second reversal, words quickly escalated between the Padres manager and Gorman.
"As long as I've been around, no one has reversed a reversal," said Green. "I was genuinely outraged at the events as they occurred."
As Green erupted in front of Gorman, 6-foot-5 bench coach Mark McGwire came on the field to separate his 5-foot-9 manager from Gorman. "Big Mac is strong," said Green. "I was done when he put his hand on me."
"I had to do something," said McGwire. "It was time."
But Green had gotten his message across loud and clear -- to Gorman, to his team and the fans. Green has the Padres' back.
And, as it turns out, plate umpire Mark Carlson was right when he made the balk call on Padres starter Colin Rea -- although not for the reason why he originally made the balk call.
Carlson originally ruled that Rea sped up his delivery when the Pirates make a strong deke toward the plate from third base. That wasn't a balk. But in speeding up, Rea came off the rubber. That is a balk.
"The balk was committed by the pitcher (Rea) actually hopping on the rubber," said Gorman. "We call it disengaging from the rubber in the middle of the windup. When (Pirates manager Clint Hurdle) came out the second time and said 'Wait a minute, he disengaged the rubber before he released the ball and then we have to go with a balk there.
"That's when Andy got a little heated."
A little? Afterwards several Padres players admitted they got fired up by Green's display of emotions.
"I thought it did," said Adam Rosales. "We played over it. It kind of fired us up."
NOTES FROM THE SCOREBOOK:
• The decisive back-to-back homers delivered by catcher Derek Norris and Rosales in the fifth ended a couple slumps. The catcher was in a 2-for-18 drought and hadn't had a homer nor a RBI season when he connected on a two-run, 409-foot drive to center off Francisco Liriano. Rosales was hitless in 14 straight at-bats when he launched a 405-bomb that struck the flashing in front of the railing atop the Western Metal Supply Co. building.
• Rosales' was clocked in 16.3 seconds in his patented home run sprint, which is the second-fastest circumnavigation of the bases on a home run since that stat started being charted. The fastest home run sprint is 16.2 seconds by Cincinnati speedster Billy Hamilton.
• Left fielder Melvin Upton Jr. tied a career-high by drawing three walks Tuesday. The Padres drew a total of 10 walks, although none of the walks scored. Before Tuesday night, the Padres had drawn only 34 walks in 13 games.
• The back-to-back home runs by Norris and Rosales were the first by the Padres since Justin Upton and Yonder Alonso went back-to-back last July 29.