Rays reliever Joel Peralta was ejected in the top of the 8th inning of the team’s game against the Nationals on Tuesday night after umpires found significant amounts of pine tar in his glove. The umpire inspection was requested by the Nationals, which knew of Peralta’s habits from his team with the team in 2010.
Even though Peralta was caught blatantly cheating, Rays manager Joe Maddon was ticked off after the game and called Washington’s decision to request a check “cowardly.”
“Insider trading, man. It’s bush,” Maddon said. “It’s bogus. That’s way too easy, right there.”
Maddon’s argument is that cheating is commonplace, and that managers shouldn’t bust opposing players for doing the same thing their guys are doing.
“From a real veteran staff on the other side knowing how this thing works and how it’s worked for many, many years, you could go back to spitball pitchers, greaseball pitchers, to whatever kind of pitchers, to scuffball pitchers, it’s just the way this game has been played for 100 years, or more than that,” Maddon said, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
“Before you start throwing rocks,” Maddon said. “Understand where you live.”
It’s a fair point by Maddon — you can’t call someone else out for something you’re benefiting from. Davey Johnson wasn’t managing the Nationals when Peralta pitched for them, but plenty of guys still on the team were a part of it. If they didn’t object when Peralta was cheating to help their team then, it’s pretty bush of them to complain when it hurts them.
