Nats general manager Mike Rizzo held a brief pregame news conference at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Friday afternoon to dispute reports that his actions immediately following a 1-0 loss to New York Mets (on Thursday afternoon) were solely under investigation by Major League Baseball.
Media reports in the aftermath of that controversial loss said Rizzo angrily confronted the umpiring crew – specifically first-base umpire Phil Cuzzi, whose double blown call at first base in the top of the ninth inning stifled a Washington rally. Nats players and coaches were incensed that Jayson Werth was called out on a hard infield grounder to third base. Not only did Werth beat the throw, but television replays confirmed that first baseman Daniel Murphy came off the bag before the ball even reached him.
Rizzo wouldn’t talk about specifics so it’s hard to get a better gauge of what happened. He even insisted “the incident” with the umpires had nothing to do with the blown call itself or any arguments stemming from that ninth-inning play. Rizzo said he immediately contacted Joe Torre – Major League Baseball’s executive vice president of baseball operations – after the confrontation to give his side of the story. Rizzo and Torre again spoke Friday afternoon and a formal investigation is on-going. Here is the original story by the New York Daily News, one of several characterizations Rizzo took issue with.
[Torre] assured me that despite a lot of the reports in the media this by no means is an investigation against Mike Rizzo,” Rizzo said. “This is an investigation of what happened last night after the game. With that said, like I said after the incident I was pro-active, called Joe Torre about it, informed him of it. And right now it is an active investigation in the hands of Joe Torre. I trust Joe Torre explicitly. I know he’ll do the right thing by it. He can investigate it and we’ll see the results afterwards.”
Rizzo wouldn’t even say where the incident occurred at Citi Field – on the field, outside the umpire’s locker room. Also, no timeline for Torre to make a decision on what – if any – punishment would be handed down to the parties involved. Again, Rizzo’s whole point was that the MLB investigation was directed at him explicitly. The other umpires were Manny Gonzalez (home plate), who the Nats’ also took issue with in the ninth inning, crew chief Bill Miller (second base) and James Hoye (third base). Rizzo did answer a question about the confrontation falling under the category “of sticking up for his players and manager”
“Well, my job is to stick up for the whole organization. I’ve always got the manager’s and the player’s and the coaches’ back,” Rizzo said. “And whenever I need to put myself on the line to do so that’s my job so I’m willing to do that.”
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