By Bruce Levine —
CHICAGO (CBS) — What Derek Holland experienced on Friday evening may have been a difficult mix of a lack of respect on one side, and extra sensitivity on the other.
Home plate umpire Bill Welke’s shrug during Holland’s Friday evening outing was called “unprofessional” by Holland, who had another rough outing.
In the fourth inning of the game, Welke walked toward the mound after Holland and the veteran umpire disagreed on a pitch, which he called a ball to Indians outfielder Brandon Guyer. Holland said he thought Welke had flinched as if he was going to call a strike.
“I thought it was unprofessional to tell me he was walking to the mound — to saying he was going to show me up. The only thing I said was, don’t flinch like that. You can’t do that, it’s showing me it is a strike. The way he handled it — I thought was very unprofessional. Those guys aren’t accountable for some of those things.”
Holland was not blaming the umpire for another poor effort on his part. In his last ten starts, his ERA been over 9.00. He apologized to his bullpen teammates for putting a load on them in his outings.
Manager Rickey Renteria has been supporting his players from opening day with much more than lip service. The Sox manager has been tossed out of six games in 2017 as a result of standing up for his guys.
“If [Holland] felt that way [disrespected], he has a right to feel the way he feels,” said Renteria. “All I know is I saw someone going out toward my player in what I perceived to be a quite aggressive manner. I went out there to try and keep my player in the game. I thought there was a lot of extended respect as we were having the conversation. It was not something that was adversarial as you think.”
Losing eight straight home games during a period when the team had been decimated by trading veteran players away, has torn a wide hole of sensitivity throughout the White Sox clubhouse.
The idea that players can adjust to getting their butts kicked every night is just not realistic. The fine line between emotional response and keeping your cool is really tested in a losing climate at a professional level.
“A the end of the day, we know the umpires have a tough job,” said Sox pitcher James Shields. “They know we are doing everything we can to compete at the highest level every five days. There are a lot of frustrations in the game and I think they understand that. For the most part, the umpires do a great job. I just thought Derek handled himself really well yesterday, and our manager has been there for us all year.”
Renteria has the respect of all of his players in the way he has taken one for the team all year.
“Someone asked me if I have to take anger management classes,” Renteria said. “I don’t think so. I am actually a very patient person. I think the emotions run high at this level. My first instinct is to paternally help our guys in any way I can. I hope I can respond appropriately to all situations.”
from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2vhJunl
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