PHILADELPHIA -- In a matter of seconds Tuesday night, Max Scherzer went from overpowering Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm with a 96-mph fastball to performing a striptease in front of the mound.
All in the name of proving he wasn’t doctoring the ball.
Night 2 of Major League Baseball’s crackdown on pitchers using illegal sticky substances turned cartoonish in the fourth inning of the Phillies’ 3-2 loss to the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park. Never mind that Scherzer received the now-obligatory TSA-style frisking from home-plate umpire Tim Timmons after the first and third innings. Phillies manager Joe Girardi asked that the Nationals ace be checked again with one out in the fourth.
After a brief meeting, the umpires carried out Girardi’s request. Scherzer stepped forward, dropped his hat and glove, unbuckled his belt, began unbuttoning his pants, raised his arms, and repeated, “I got nothin.’ If not for crew chief Alfonso Marquez interceding, Scherzer might’ve gone full Ned Braden from Slap Shot. As Nationals manager Dave Martinez griped about the apparent ridiculousness of it all, Girardi went to the top step of the dugout and hollered back.
It was delicious theater for the announced crowd of 19,652, and Scherzer and Girardi somehow managed to top it in the bottom of the fifth.
Scherzer struck out J.T. Realmuto to end the inning and glared at Girardi the whole way back to the dugout. Girardi stomped onto the field and appeared to challenge Scherzer to a fight. After being intercepted by Timmons, Girardi was swiftly ejected.
But hey, at least Scherzer wasn’t found to be cheating.
Last week, with the use of Spider Tack and other sticky substances having grown so prevalent as to suppress the offense in the game, MLB announced it was authorizing umpires to conduct “regular checks of all pitchers regardless of whether an opposing club’s manager makes a request,” with ejections and 10-game suspensions for pitchers who get nabbed.
The policy took effect Monday. The Phillies were off. And before they opened a two-game series against the Nationals, Girardi said he was curious to see how it all worked. He also didn’t rule out the possibility of asking the umpires to conduct a frisking.
MLB’s policy allows managers to make that request. But in a memo to teams, the commissioner’s office stipulated that managers who do so “in bad faith (e.g., a request intended to disrupt the pitcher in a critical game situation, a routine request that is not based on observable evidence, etc.)”, may be disciplined.
“I think you have to think about it if you suspect it, yeah,” Girardi said before the game. “I would hope, though, that if they see something that’s a repetitive action the umpires would check.”
Scherzer appeared annoyed when the umpires checked him after the first and third innings. He gave up a second-deck leadoff homer to Bryce Harper in the second inning. But the Nationals had a 3-1 lead and knocked Phillies ace Zack Wheeler out of the game by the time Scherzer struck out Bohm and Girardi called the cops.
Gamesmanship, perhaps? Girardi said before the game that he wouldn’t do that.
“I’m not going to play games,” he said. “That’s silly. It’s just, if you see something that’s clear cut, you’ll probably ask them.”
Scherzer lasted only five innings, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out eight. Wheeler lasted only three innings, the fourth-shortest start of his career and shortest since June 19, 2017, when he was with the New York Mets.
But conspiracy theorists can forget linking Wheeler’s first dud of a stellar season to the crackdown on sticky stuff. According to Statcast, his average spin rate on his four-seam fastball (2,399 rpms) and curveball (2,680 rpms) was actually higher than his season averages (2,391 and 2,627, respectively).
The Phillies made an interesting game dramatic in the late innings. Rhys Hoskins cut the deficit to one run with a solo homer in the eighth. In the ninth, the Phillies loaded the bases with one out against Nationals closer Brad Hand. But Odúbel Herrera flew out to shallow left field, and after working the count full, Hoskins grounded out.
Wheeler continued his odd pattern of struggling in the first inning. Coming into the game, he had a 5.14 ERA in the first inning and a 1.64 mark thereafter. The Nationals jumped him for two first-inning runs on a walk and three consecutive hits, including RBI singles by Josh Bell and Yan Gomes.
Harper halved the lead with his ninth homer of the season, all of which have been solos. But the Nationals regained a two-run edge when Wheeler gave up a single to Juan Soto and a two-out RBI single to Gomes.
Girardi turned to the bullpen for the fourth inning, calling on rookie Bailey Falter, then turned his attention to Scherzer.
After what ensued, it figures to be all anybody in baseball will be talking about.
