Carter Gets Ejected, Blue Jays Feel Dejected

This season has been disappointing enough for the Toronto Blue Jays, who with the addition of Roger Clemens were expected to be much improved from their fourth-place finish last season.

On Sunday afternoon, that disappointment turned to bitterness for the Blue Jays, who were literally run out of Anaheim Stadium during their 9-5 loss to Angels.

In the third inning, Toronto Manager Cito Gaston was tossed by first base umpire Mike Everitt for arguing a close play. In the seventh, Toronto left fielder Joe Carter was banished by John Hirschbeck for arguing balls and strikes.

Gaston appeared to cope with being thrown out of the game fairly easily.

“It’s over with,” he said. “There’s no sense in talking about it. I know he missed theplay.”

But Carter would not let his ejection go without criticizing crew chief Hirschbeck and eventually his entire crew. The normally mild-mannered Carter, who was thrown out of a game for the second time in eight days, still seemed shocked Hirschbeck threw him out before he was able to finish his at-bat.

“I’d like to see what he’s going to put in his report,” Carter said. “If you can’t have a normal conversation about a difference of opinion, then why bother. It’s not fair tothe game. It’s not fair to the player.”

Carter, who singled twice and was called out on strikes in fifth against Chuck Finley, was the first hitter to face Angels reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa. He entered in the seventh with Angels leading, 6-5, and a runner on first with one out.

Carter argued briefly after Hirschbeck called Hasegawa’s first pitch on the outside corner a strike. He argued again when Hasegawa’s off-speed pitch on the inside corner was called a strike.

Hirschbeck listened to Carter for about 20 seconds before ending his day.

“I thought I had the first pitch right and he said something about it,” Hirschbeck said. “I gave him three or four warnings. He never cussed, but I said, ‘Joe, that’s enough.’ Then he started getting into details about the way I call balls and strikes. That was just too much detail for me.”

Afterward, Carter continued to describe, in detail, his beef with Hirschbeck.

“You can’t call a pitch four or five inches and then give the guy the inside corner,” Carter said. “If you do that, the plate turns into a platter for the pitcher. You don’t have a chance. What part of the plate is the hitter’s part?”

Carter is hitting only .239 with 12 homers and 63 RBIs and his team is four games below .500 and 12 1/2 behind Baltimore in the American League East, but he has not given up on the season.

“I’m a competitor,” he said. “We had a chance to win the game at that point, down 6-5. Two and 0 is a lot better hitting situation than 1-1. You know I’m not a guy that likes to take pitches, so they have to be pretty bad for me to argue.”

Carter didn’t like the ball and strike calls all weekend.

“When both teams are arguing the calls, then something’s wrong with the umpires,” he said.

Said Hirschbeck of the day’s festivities: “A typical, hot July Sunday afternoon, right?”