I was gone before the party even began.
On Sunday, San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin was unexpectedly ejected before the team’s final game of the series against the Colorado Rockies.
He was ejected after yelling abuse at Chris Conroy and the umpires following a batting order exchange at home plate.
“We just talked too much,” Melvin said after the Giants’ 3-2 win.
“Umpire is a tough job, I know that. But maybe I said too much. It wasn’t planned, it wasn’t planned. Maybe I went too far.”
It was the 63rd ejection of his career, putting him 16th all-time in ejections, and his fourth this season.
Throughout the first two games, which the Giants lost both times, Melvin had already conveyed his frustration during interviews and by yelling from the dugout.
In the bottom of the sixth inning of Friday’s 7-3 loss, Rockies catcher Elias Diaz was hit by a pitch and then Brenton Doyle smashed the ball 434 feet for a two-run homer.
Melvin adamantly maintained it was a “phantom hit.”
“I’ve never seen an umpire persuade a player who was hit by a pitch to advance to first base,” he said.
“He’s trying to argue that the pitch didn’t hit him.”
Additionally, Melvin made history as the fastest ejection in MLB history, joining short-tempered former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver.
On Aug. 15, 1975, during a doubleheader against the Texas Rangers, Weaver was ejected by manager Ron Luciano after making pregame changes to the batting order. He was upset by a call in the fourth inning of the series opener and let his mouth slip.
Weaver led the Orioles from 1968-1982 and 1985-1986 and was ejected 96 times in 17 seasons.
Mishaps leading to pregame ejections are rare, but Giants pitching coach Bryan Price was fired by Jim Reynolds during a batting order swap on May 23, 2015.
At the time, he was the manager of the Cincinnati Reds and had expressed dissatisfaction with a call in a game the previous day.
