ST. PETERSBURG -- Yankees manager Joe Girardi ripped a page out of the old Billy Martin and Lou Piniella playbooks, using his bare hands to cover home plate with dirt after being ejected in the fifth inning of Saturday's game against the Rays at Tropicana Field.
"Just upset," Girardi said after the Yankees' 9-5 loss. "If I'm going to get tossed for asking about one of my coaches, I might as well get my money's worth."
Logan Morrison's two-run single up the middle off rookie reliever Giovanny Gallegos gave Tampa Bay a 9-4 lead, prompting pitching coach Larry Rothschild to come out for a mound visit. Home-plate umpire Scott Barry interrupted the meeting, exchanged words with Rothschild and ejected the pitching coach.
"There were a couple of good pitches in that sequence," Rothschild said. "I just said I thought he missed a couple of pitches. That was it. I didn't raise my voice, didn't swear, didn't do anything."
That caused Girardi to begin a heated argument with Barry, an eight-year big league veteran. The ejection was Girardi's second of the season, 37th of his career and 32nd as the Yankees' manager. Rothschild was tossed for the fourth time in his current role.
"No one knew what Larry said to him; he wasn't showing him up," Girardi said. "So I went and asked him why he threw him out and he said, 'He told me I missed a couple pitches in the sequence, and you can't come out and argue it. And you're gone too.' So I've got an issue with that. It is my right to go find out what he said."
Girardi added that he thought Barry "stared down some of our hitters today, too, when they questioned some calls."
"When Scott went out there to break the conference up, which is what he's supposed to do after 30 seconds, Rothschild argued pitches," crew chief Paul Emmel said. "Same with Joe. He argued pitches. You cannot argue pitches. He was ejected for arguing pitches."

Tempers flared further in the sixth inning when Rays starter Matt Andriese drilled Aaron Judge with a 90.4-mph fastball, prompting Barry to eject him.
"I was pretty surprised," Andriese said. "I didn't know if there were any warnings or anything like that. I was just going about my business the right way and making a pitch inside. I was very surprised to see that."
Emmel said that Andriese was ejected for intentionally throwing at the hitter. The Yankees' Tommy Layne had hit Corey Dickerson in the upper back with an 87-mph two-seamer in the fifth inning after Dickerson homered twice off Masahiro Tanaka. Andriese had hit Matthew Holliday with a 3-2 slider a half-inning earlier.

"I didn't really think much of it," Judge said. "I know that Tommy was pitching, and a sinker got away and got Dickerson. It's baseball. It's going to happen and they're going to get guys. I was the one that got hit. It's just part of it. I was going to take my base, and it's part of the game."
"I know that umpire really well," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "He's trying to do a good job. He felt it was time for Matt to go, and that's the decision you live with."
Dickerson said he wasn't expecting to be hit in the fifth.

"I was looking for another good pitch to hit and you know, it hit me," Dickerson said. "The only thing I didn't like about it was where it was located. I mean, if it was on purpose and he hit me, that's OK. I just took my base and went on about it."