Brett Gardner is known for occasionally being a hothead, but even on a night like Friday when he originally wasn’t, umpires appear to expect the worst from him.
During the New York Yankees’ eventual loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, Gardner was shown the door by umpire Chris Segal. In the top of the fourth inning, Mike Tauchman took a strike, and Segal proceeded to turn and eject somebody from the Yankee bench. After Aaron Boone came out to (quite justifiably) ask what was wrong, it soon was discovered that he was ringing up Gardner, who was sitting on the bench. The cameras show Gardner never had shouted at the umpire, but he was jamming his bat against the ceiling of the dugout at one point.
You can watch the whole scene below.
So what did Gardner have to say about it?
“I just — I don’t understand it,” Gardner told reporters, via ESPN. “Didn’t then. Still don’t. It’s not right.
“I didn’t even open my mouth, which is unusual for me,” Gardner later said. “He just wanted to assume, or wanted to take a guess, and he was wrong. And then he lied to me about it — which is a huge problem — and that’s what made me a little upset.”
His whole media availability is a must-watch, so you can view it here.
It’s unclear if Gardner will be suspended for his actions, but even if he is, it’s easy to see why he was so upset.
