PITTSBURGH _ Cubs manager Joe Maddon isn't backing off his contention that Anthony Rizzo's slide was legal even after Major League Baseball chief baseball officer Joe Torre informed him that Rizzo's action should have been ruled interference.
"With all due respect, I totally, 100 percent, disagree with the interpretation of the rule, and hopefully at the end of the season that can be somewhat fixed," Maddon said Tuesday after learning from Torre that the umpires erred in judging legal Rizzo's slide that hooked the right ankle of Pirates catcher Elias Diaz and led to a two-run throwing error.
"Don't penalize Anthony for doing the right baseball thing he has been taught to do from the time he was a kid, and all of a sudden something thrown into the mix the day after is interpreted as being wrong but not the day of. It's kind of incongruent. I do believe I'm right."
Maddon said he was told Rizzo's slide was clean but not legal.
The controversy consumed Pirates manager Clint Hurdle so much that he never considered whether the fine assessed for his ejection after the replay would be waived.
"I wanted to figure out how I was so off in my evaluation watching the video," said Hurdle, who appreciated hearing of the interference ruling from MLB. "If I'm off, just walk me through it, coach me through it. Teach me."
