Friar Watch

Coming into the Rockies series there was only one thing the Padres needed to avoid: a sweep. Well they got swept and in the process Milton Bradley revealed how apt the Jenga nickname is. After an 8th inning single Bradley started jawing at 1st base umpire Mike Winters. On the replay it looked like Bradley was asking Winters something and Winters seemed to be replying in a normal, non-confrontational manner. At that point Bradley should have shut his mouth and concentrated on the game but after every pitch he continued to run his mouth about something. Eventually he tried to call time out on his way back to the base and for some reason just went ape shit on Winters. Bobby Meacham had been positioning himself between Bradley and Winters and was able to block Bradley, who looked like he was ready to physically assault Winters. Bradley tried to push Meacham aside when Bud Black ran out and grabbed him by the arm. Bradley wouldn’t let himself be restrained and eventually was wrestled to the ground, twisting his knee in the process. I hope Bradley felt some embarrassment while he was rolling around in pain in front of 35,000 fans, all due to his own inability to control his emotions.

From looking at the replay it looks like Bradley was calling timeout on his way back to the bag, then turns to Winters when he reaches the bag. Channel 4 cut to a wide shot and at that instant you can see Winters is actually talking to Meacham, who was already walking towards Winters with his arms outstretched and shaking his head, in a WTF? manner. As Bradley advanced on Winters it look like Meacham was actually yelling at Winters. After Bradley wass ejected Meacham continued his argument, yelling and pointing his finger in Winters face. Meacham was ignoring the whole Black-Bradley wrestling match and was still hot after Bradley went down and all the other umpires converged.

Was there a racial epithet? No way we can know at this point but I find it hard to believe Meacham would have gotten that worked up over Bradley being thrown out.

Regardless of what was said, I think we’ve seen the last of Milton Bradley in San Diego. I was willing to give him a chance when he came over from Oakland but now I feel like the Boston fans who talked themselves into thinking JD Drew would be a good addition. Bradley is incapable of controlling his emotions and he’s incredibly fragile on top of it. It’s sad to see a guy ruin his career like this but Bradley has no one to blame but himself. All he had to do was make it through the last few games without incident and he was looking at a decent payday as a free agent but now he’s gone and shown he’s still the same old head case. Sure he’ll still make millions but I have to think today’s tantrum cost him a lot. Certainly it’s hard to see the Padres bringing him back, even with two potential holes in the outfield.

UPDATE: After seeing Bradley and Meacham’s comments after the game I have to soften my criticism of Bradley. They say Winters was riding Bradley and called him a “piece of shit”, at which point Bradley lost it. Meacham said it was the worst thing he’s ever heard out of an umpire and felt like it was a racial thing even though there were apparently no explicitly racial terms used. I’ve never seen Bobby Meacham that upset about anything so I have to think Winter was way out of line. Sandy Alderson thought so too and while he’s always had issues with umpires he’s always struck me as very fair minded.

Bradley still has to take responsibility for his actions. If Meacham wasn’t between them I really believe he would have taken a swing at Winters, and when Black was trying to hold him back he needs to calm down at that point. Bradley put the blame on Winters for his injury, which is ridiculous. Bradley needs to understand that it’s his reputation as a hothead that causes fans, players and even umpires to get on him like that. The umpire has no business riding a player like that and should be suspended, if not fired, but Bradley has to learn to control his emotions.