When Davey Johnson brought Joel Peralta’s cheating ways to the umpiring crew’s attention on Tuesday, Joe Maddon was not happy. Maddon’s argument was basically that everyone does it, and Peralta even used to pitch for the Nationals. Maddon went as far as to call the Nationals manager “cowardly” for making a big deal over it.
Johnson said there are small rule violations and then there is going overboard. As far as Maddon calling him a coward, Davey said he’s not too concerned.
“I didn’t know him that well, but I thought he was a weird wuss, anyway,” Johnson said Wednesday according to the Washington Post. “I understand where he’s coming from. His job as a manager is to protect the players. Striking out at who ever he thinks is causing your players any grievance. So I understand where he’s coming from. But he doesn’t know me from a hole in the hill. Or I him, for that matter. But I do know the rulebook, and I do try to follow it.
“I don’t want to get in a shouting match with Joe. I looked him up on the Internet and found out he has a Tweeter, so he can get to more people than me. And so I don’t want to get in a shouting match with him. He’s got a bigger following. But it was interesting reading. But you can tell him I have a doctorate of letters, too. Mine’s from Loyola, in humanities. And I’m proud of that, too.”
As we all know, you can’t fight Twitter. I must say I tend to side with Johnson on this one. If you see someone blatantly cheating and think that pointing it out gives your team a better chance to win, that’s exactly what you have to do. If it’s any consolation, he’s not the first person Maddon has called a coward this season.
