Balls and gloves were flying into the stands and charges and countercharges were flying between the clubhouses Friday.
It was a wild, windy, steamy day at Wrigley Field as the Cubs and Astros let their emotions boil over for the second time in six days.
In the end the Astros won the game 15-7, but the final results of the rest will have to be sorted out by the umpires and the commissioner’s enforcement branch after they review on- and off-field confrontations.
When they file their report on Friday’s game, the umpires will include Michael Barrett’s oral dustups with Houston pitcher Roy Oswalt at home plate and first base, Kent Mercker’s sixth-inning pitch that struck Oswalt in the leg and Mercker’s postgame shouting at umpires in the dugout runway.
What most likely will not be included: Kyle Farnsworth’s tossing of his glove into the stands as he left the field after a six-run ninth inning.
Mercker apparently felt plate umpire C.B. Bucknor was laughing at the Cubs’ embattled reliever as he struggled. Actually. crew chief Mike Reilly said, Bucknor was smiling over something that assistant trainer Sandy Krun had said while he heading back to the dugout after talking with Farnsworth.
The umpiring crew–the same one that was on the field April 17 when its confrontation with Kerry Wood resulted in the Cubs pitcher’s five-game suspension–came into Wrigley Field forewarned of what happened on Sunday in Houston.
That’s when Oswalt drilled Barrett in the back after giving up a three-run home run.
While Wood minded his business–he did hit the fourth batter of the game in the foot–during his highly ineffective 4 1/3 innings, the same can’t be said for Barrett and Mercker.
Neither was ejected, not even Mercker after he hit Oswalt with his first pitch, which raised howls from the Astros.
“That’s the home-plate umpire’s decision, and at that point he didn’t think [Mercker] was throwing at [Oswalt],” Reilly said.
Mercker denied it was a retaliation pitch for last Sunday.
“I threw a fastball inside to the pitcher,” he said. “That’s the best pitch to throw a pitcher.”
“I don’t know what his intentions are,” Astros manager Phil Garner said. “But the truth of the matter is that Wood has hit something like 11 Astros and Roy has hit only three [Cubs].
“I don’t know what elementary school teaches you that kind of math, but it sure doesn’t add up in my viewpoint.
“We’re not trying to say we need to equate what Wood’s doing, but I would say that if you’re going to talk about squaring off or settling scores, they better take a look at those numbers before they start talking.”
Said Barrett: “If [Mercker] hit him intentionally, I’m glad to have a teammate who sticks up for me. At the same time, I wanted to handle things by myself.”
Barrett tried that in the second inning, jawing at Oswalt when Oswalt came to bat before Bucknor stopped him.
“I just felt like I needed to say something,” Barrett said. “[Oswalt] was wrong and I wanted him to know. . . . I didn’t get a chance to say what I wanted to.”
Reilly, umpiring third base, came rushing in as the benches cleared.
“I didn’t want to see another fight start,” Reilly said. “It’s a new day here. My job is to make sure we don’t have a fight, and that’s what I told Michael.
“I said, `C’mon, Michael, use your head, let’s just play the game, let’s not get into another situation where we have players thrown out.'”
Barrett also had words for Oswalt in front of the Houston dugout after he grounded out in that second inning.
“The first incident, he has the right to say what he wants to,” Oswalt said.
“When he started following me around on the field, then it gets a little oversensitive. He’s trying to sell it a little too much. Whatever. It doesn’t bother me much.”
Barrett said the bad blood between him and Oswalt goes back to his Montreal days “when he hit [Jose] Vidro in the head” after a home run and to when Oswalt threw at teammate Paul Bako’s head.
“This is between Oswalt and me,” Barrett said. “I try not to take it too personally. It got the best of me. I won’t let it happen again.”
After the game Mercker yelled at Bucknor, apparently because he thought the umpire was laughing when the trainer visited Farnsworth on the mound.
“Mercker misunderstood what C.B. was doing,” Reilly said. “C.B. is not going to laugh at a pitcher when he’s hurt. That’s the most ridiculous thing in the world. Mercker just didn’t understand what was happening at the time.”
Mercker refused comment on the situation.
The umpires will huddle to determine what to say in their report to the MLB office.
Included in the discussion will be umpire supervisor Richie Garcia, who was at Friday’s game and will be at Saturday’s.
While most reports go to the league office sometime after a series is complete, Garcia said this one “will no doubt be handled before that.”
Barrett said he doesn’t expect any suspension “after what [Oswalt] did” on Sunday.
The Cubs and Astros play each other only two more times, Saturday and Sunday. Is the animosity over?
“I hope so,” Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. “We don’t see Oswalt anymore, probably. So it’s probably over till next year.”
And the umpiring crew?
“Our job is just to make sure we get nine innings in and let the players decide the game,” Reilly said. “They pay us to umpire, not to referee.”
