Jeff Blair (Globe):
Home plate umpire Phil cuzzi, who tossed Halladay from the game, has a history with the Blue Jays. Earlier this year, Blue Jays first baseman Carlos Delgado described a pair of called strikes by cuzzi as “probably the worst call that I've seen in a long, long time.”
Blair was on The FAN 590 this morning, suggesting that cuzzi is widely perceived as a lousy ump. The reputation is well deserved.
According to Jays' manager Carlos Tosca, the commissioner's office had directed the umpires to warn both teams "about hitting batters" because "there's been history between our two clubs." Tosca said he was baffled by the assertion.
"I was totally caught off-guard," Tosca said in an unusual prepared statement circulated to the media before he met with reporters.
No one in either clubhouse last night claimed to understand why the warning was issued. Asked whether cuzzi had revealed why he tossed Halladay, both Tosca and catcher Kevin Cash said the umpire offered no explanation.
"I think [the umpires] thought we were retaliating for something," Halladay said. "I don't know what. I don't understand it."
Geoff Baker (Star):
Toronto coaches, brass and players huddled after the game in an attempt to cool off before the media arrived, but their bewilderment still came through loud and clear as they digested Halladay's first home loss since April 1.
"I really wasn't aware of that until after the game," Halladay said of the warning after the 5-2 loss to the Devil Rays in front of an enraged SkyDome crowd of 22,869. "I don't know where that came from ... I guess that's something between (cuzzi), the league and here. I didn't have any knowledge of it. It was kind of shocking."
Spencer Fordin (MLB.com):
Halladay's ejection wasn't the only bizarre event in this game. After an animated argument and resulting delay, Reichert struggled through the rest of the inning. One of his pitches hit Toby Hall in the forearm, but the umpires apparently ruled that Hall was swinging when he got hit. With another chance, Reichert came back to strike Hall out, but the drama didn't end there.
Hall had words with home-plate umpire Phil cuzzi, who proceeded to eject his second player of the inning. That caused Lou Piniella, the road team's manager, to come out and join the discussion. Everything proceeded uneventfully from there, although the SkyDome crowd was unusually vocal for the rest of the game.
Also in the bottom of the sixth, a fan sitting in the section to our left expressed his disgust by tossing a foul ball back on the field. This prompted loud cheers, which turned to more boos when the usher (a good friend who played for me for several years) had to reluctantly escort the fan from the premises.
cuzzi, who was too cowardly to speak to reporters afterward, ruined the game for that fan and more than 20,000 others.
