Thursday afternoon, the Yankees and Rays wrapped up their important four-game series at Yankee Stadium with a single-admission doubleheader. Travis d'Arnaud socked three homers in Tampa's win Monday, Didi Gregorius clubbed a clutch grand slam in New York's win Tuesday, then Wednesday's game was rained out.
Early on Thursday (GameTracker) both the Yankees and Rays had issues with rookie home plate umpire Brennan Miller, who is behind the plate for the fifth time in his MLB career. Yankees righty Domingo German was squeezed notably on several pitches in the first inning, for example:
As is often the case with rookie umpires, Miller heard it from both dugouts early in Thursday's game. It wasn't until after Brett Gardner was called out on an inside fastball in the second inning that things boiled over. Gardner smashed his bat in the dugout and Yankees manager Aaron Boone came out to give Miller a piece of his mind.
Here's the video of Boone's rant. The language is NSFW and we have a censored transcript below:
Aaron Boone protecting his players#YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/VLeDUwtPMl
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) July 18, 2019
"My guys are f---ing savages in that box and you're having a piece of s--- start to this game," Boone said. "I feel bad for you, but f---ing be better. That guy is a good pitcher and but our guys are f---ing savages in that box. Our guys are savages in the f---ing box. Tighten it up right now, OK? Tighten this s--- up."
Here's how Boone explained the tirade after the Yankees' 6-2 win.
Aaron Boone: "Sometimes in the heat of the battle you just say some things."
— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) July 18, 2019
All things considered, that was a fairly routine manager argument and ejection. It's not often we get decent audio on those though. Boone telling the rookie umpire he feels bad for him is pretty funny. Also, my guess is "our guys are f---ing savages in the box" is going to end up on a t-shirt sometime soon.
Boone was of course ejected. He was ejected before he came out of the dugout, in fact. As for Gardner, he gave the dugout roof the business after the strikeout:
"Brett, your thoughts on today's strike zone & home plate umpire?"
— A.J. Herrmann (@AJHerrmannYES) July 18, 2019
Brett Gardner: pic.twitter.com/1taNItaCX6
