Scioscia Mystified Over Ejection

What began as a relatively mild difference of opinion wound up with Angel Manager Mike Scioscia being ejected in the fifth inning of Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the Yankees.

Scioscia took exception when first base umpire Eric Cooper called Benji Gil out after he apparently beat Derek Jeter’s relay throw on a double play. Television replays seemed to indicate that Gil was safe and Scioscia popped out of the dugout for a quick chat that never really became nasty or combative.

“I wouldn’t have gone out there if I didn’t think he missed the play,” Scioscia said.

Scioscia’s return to the dugout didn’t end the argument, however. It only got plate umpire Doug Eddings involved, and Eddings ejected Scioscia shortly after he rejoined his team. Scioscia yelled something from the top step and Eddings promptly tossed him, which ignited a verbal war between them on the field. At one point, Cooper had to step in and separate the two.

“From the dugout, I said ‘Let’s go’ to the first base ump,” Scioscia said. “But I guarantee there’s no way that Doug Eddings heard that or heard anything or knew what I said. You’re going to have to go ask him.”

Neither Eddings nor Cooper would comment on the ejection after the game, and Scioscia had no idea what he had done wrong.

“I don’t know why Doug had his head in our dugout to begin with,” Scioscia said. “It certainly didn’t warrant an ejection.”

It was the second ejection this season for the normally subdued Scioscia. The other came during the April 10 home opener at Edison Field, when Scioscia was tossed in the eighth inning for arguing balls and strikes. The Angels lost that game, too.

Ismael Valdes was 3-2 with a 1.99 earned-run average in five starts since coming off the disabled list July 5, and he had not given up a home run in his last three starts--a span of 19 2/3 innings.

The Yankees put an end to that streak in the fifth inning when Alfonso Soriano and Derek Jeter ripped solo homers, both on the first pitch.

Valdes didn’t even give up a hit until Jeter’s leadoff single in the fourth inning, striking out four to that point. Scioscia pulled Valdes after five innings, replacing him with Mike Holtz.

“I think he pitched a terrific ballgame,” Scioscia said. “Soriano hit a breaking ball that he tried to put over the plate and it stayed in the middle. Jeter went down and got a tough pitch. That was a good piece of hitting.”

While Valdes’ pitch to Soriano hung a bit, there wasn’t much he could do about Jeter’s homer. Jeter reached down and golfed an outside pitch, lifting a fly ball that narrowly cleared the 314-foot mark on the right-field wall.

Roger Clemens turned 39 Saturday, and although he might not be the same Rocket as a decade ago, he seems just as effective.

Clemens has owned the Angels over his career (26-8 record) and pitched well enough to beat them again Saturday. He gave up five hits and two earned runs in 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven, but Troy Glaus’ two-run homer off Mariano Rivera in the eighth robbed him of a chance at another victory.

Clemens did pass Pedro Martinez for the American League lead in strikeouts with 154. Martinez, on the disabled list since mid-June, has 150.

“He doesn’t dominate you so much with power anymore as he does with finesse, I think,” said Tim Salmon, who had a double and single against Clemens. “I think he’s become more of a pitcher. He’ll beat you with a split-finger at one at-bat, slider the next. He’s trying to pitch and doing a good job. He still looks good. He shut us down.”

Salmon whiffed on his first at-bat against Clemens, but managed his third multi-hit game in the last four to raise his average to .218.

TODAY

ANGELS’ RAMON ORTIZ

(9-7, 4.01)

vs.

YANKEES’ TED LILLY

(3-4, 4.80)

Yankee Stadium, New York, 10 a.m.

Television--Channel 9

Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

Update--With a victory today, Ortiz would become the first Angel starter to reach double digits in victories since Chuck Finley went 12-11 in 1999. The Angels have not had a pitcher with 15 victories since Finley in 1996, but Ortiz has a decent chance to match that mark. He is 3-0 with a 2.49 ERA in his last three starts against the Orioles, Devil Rays and Red Sox. Lilly, a rookie left-hander, has never faced the Angels. The Yankees are 10-7 in Lilly’s starts, but he has been prone to giving up the long ball lately. Lilly has been tagged for seven home runs in his last four starts.