A manager doesn’t have to lose their cool with the umpires to get their point across, but one would think the manager of an MLB team would be livid if his starting pitcher was ejected in the top of the fourth inning for having a sticky substance on his glove when he doesn’t believe that is the case. Not to mention how the ejection of the starting pitcher taxes the bullpen in the middle of a four-game series and Blanco now faces a 10-game suspension.
Even Dallas Braden, a member of the A’s broadcast team and a former MLB pitcher, thinks it was simply a combination of rosin and a muggy Houston night leading to excessive sweating.
Athletic had a nice story earlier this year about how he had trouble gaining weight and increasing his velocity in college until they figured out he had diabetes. Once he was diagnosed and treated, he’s been near unhittable.