The Los Angeles Dodgers are unconcerned about allegations that Mike Fiers may have had pine tar in his glove during his no-hitter on Friday night.
Players like Carl Crawford and manager Don Mattingly downplayed photos that surfaced showing a shiny substance in the Astros pitcher’s glove.
“I don’t want to take anything away from his night,” Crawford told the Los Angeles Times.
Plus there was this.
#Dodgers players not bothered by images of shiny substance in Fiers' glove. "We just sucked," one player said.
— Dylan Hernandez (@dylanohernandez) August 22, 2015
Mattingly said it would sound like “whining” if they complained. He also added that pitchers using substances is pretty much accepted.
“I think it’s pretty much accepted, unless it’s blatantly obvious somebody’s doing it,” Mattingly said.
Why wouldn’t Mattingly get upset about something like this? He knows that if he wants other pitchers checked for substances, he better be prepared to have his guys checked, and that’s probably something he wants to avoid.
Fiers, whose no-hitter was also his first career complete game, played dumb about the allegations when asked.
“I don’t know what they are talking about,” he said. “It could be a different lighting or camera angle or a lot of things. I don’t know.”
Uh huh, sure thing, Fiers. Good thing nobody asked him what his hand was doing here touching the exact part of the glove where the sticky substance appeared:
@LBSports Rubbing his fingers on glove pic.twitter.com/RGQgjBHNP9
— Jeff Metz (@TheJeffMetz) August 22, 2015
Ultimately it just comes down to what Mattingly said. Unless it’s really blatant like this, you don’t really bother with it.
