Posted from omnichatter:

Shildt ripping MLB for pitch doctoring in post-game. Says there is clear video evidence of cheating. Says there is much worse stuff going on than what they tried to get Gallegos on today. Says if the league wants to go, let’s go! Says pitchers won’t put their fingers to their mouths anymore because of all the crap on their hands.

Major fine and PR black eye for MLB tomorrow.

Way to go Mike Shildt !!!!!!!

"This is baseball's dirty little secret, and it was the wrong time to expose it," Shildt said, according to ESPN's Jesse Rogers. "Gio wears the same hat every game."

Where was this concern when Craig Kimbrel's hat was dripping gunk all these years!

Where was this concern when Craig Kimbrel's hat was dripping gunk all these years!

it's alright if you're all white.

I think Gaylord Perry said after he got undressed by umpires and forced to change something he came back with one that had even more hidden grease because he figured they wouldn't risk upsetting fans with another delay of game.

4. Yeah, that’s what this is - ridiculous

"This is baseball's dirty little secret, and it was the wrong time to expose it," Shildt said, according to ESPN's Jesse Rogers.

I'm struggling to see what West did wrong here. The sport clearly has an issue with pitchers loading up, or at least the perception it does. West sees something that looks like a foreign substance. He takes the hat out of the game but lets the dude keep pitching. That seems like it was handled pretty damn well to me, and I wonder if it were anyone but Cowboy Joe if the reaction would be much different.

It’s not an issue with West. It’s the mlb refusing to police substance abuse and leaving it to joe west to make a random hatcheck.

This isn’t hard - send the ump to the mound before every half inning to check for obvious foreign substances. Find something obvious and the pitcher is gone or if ambiguous, like the dirty hat, just remove the offending item.

It’s not an issue with West. It’s the mlb refusing to police substance abuse and leaving it to joe west to make a random hatcheck.

Sure, but perhaps this will force MLB's hand on the issue (though that didn't work the last time West tried it, when he and fellow terrible umpire tried to speed stuff up in an interminable Red Sox-Yankee game).

it's alright if you're all white.

Actually, I always thought it was a Red Sox thing...

it's alright if you're all white.

Brian Matusz was born a poor black child….

I wonder if it were anyone but Cowboy Joe if the reaction would be much different.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

It’s the mlb refusing to police substance abuse and leaving it to joe west to make a random hatcheck.

Baseball has to crack down on this and someone is going to be first, I really don't get the issue.

Baseball has to crack down on this and someone is going to be first, I really don't get the issue.

It's the internet; there is a counter-argument and a snarky response to everything. When there are, what, at least 250 million people in the USA alone (and obviously a lot more internationally) with the ability to read and write and with access to the internet, you can find a strong opinion about everything.

Ha, yea, the internet was also portraying this as FIREWORKS from Schildt. It's a calm defense of his player, which I totally get, he feels like he's being singled out. I don't agree with him, but I'm not managing a club. Trevor Bauer also felt like he was singled out! Eventually, if there are enough guys being singled out, they aren't being singled out!

TLR would have demanded his own pitcher to apologize to the other club and ask the other club to plunk his players as punishment for having his pitcher's hat confiscated.

TLR would have demanded his own pitcher to apologize to the other club and ask the other club to plunk his players as punishment for having his pitcher's hat confiscated.

Nah, he would have just found a way to blame Ray Lankford and J.D. Drew, and then used it as an excuse to bench them for Shawon Dunston and Craig Paquette.

This should be an easy call. The hat obviously had something on it. Toss the hat.

Shildt was calm but tossed so fast. I’d love to know what he said.

i want to contort myself to the point where we can blame joe west because he's such an enormous d1ckhead.

i mean ... he knew he was going to get a lot of eyeballs on him this weekend (partly, i'm sure, through a fair amount of self-promotion), so anything he did would get press.

so he sees something he and EVERYBODY ELSE has been seeing and shrugging about for the last couple of years, and decides then and there he was going to become Cowboy Joe West, gunslinger for baseball justice, and ride in and nab the villain.

making sure to cover himself by that silly 'pre-emptive' tactic of making gallego switch caps. 'I'm doing this for your own good, son.'

he knew mike shildt would shildt his pants and simply waited for him to open his mouth before tossing him.

and voila — Integrity of the Game preserved, and Joe West in the news.

now that i've typed it out, it certainly doesn't feel that far-fetched.

now that i've typed it out, it certainly doesn't feel that far-fetched.

People have stormed the Capitol over far less plausible things.

hmm ... maybe we can storm the offices of MLB after the BBTF softball game?

let's take the game back! I'm with you!

Except I think it would be more like the cartoon version of Joe West to let him throw a pitch and then suddenly notice and get himself a nice hammy ejection. More attention. More Schildt fireworks. More cowboy justice.

If the argument is that he should have continued ignoring the issue, OK - maybe. But if he's doing it because he's an egomaniacal buffoon, he did it poorly.

If the argument is that he should have continued ignoring the issue, OK - maybe.

That is the only argument.

This is what happens when Molina isnt in the game to load the ball for them.

Very glad to see this, hopefully this is just the start of the umps cracking down on it.

Except I think it would be more like the cartoon version of Joe West to let him throw a pitch and then suddenly notice and get himself a nice hammy ejection.

I read an "r" into that last word.

hmm ... maybe we can storm the offices of MLB after the BBTF softball game?

let's take the game back! I'm with you!

If I'm going to be doing any storming, there's gotta be a pitch clock involved.

West only got involved because he was crew chief. The whole thing was initiated by 2B ump Dan Bellino.

Joe West is a turd. Joe West looks to do the right thing here. Cardinal fans are complaining about it. Earth continues to spin. Water is still wet.

It’s not an issue with West. It’s the mlb refusing to police substance abuse and leaving it to joe west to make a random hatcheck.

This isn’t hard - send the ump to the mound before every half inning to check for obvious foreign substances. Find something obvious and the pitcher is gone or if ambiguous, like the dirty hat, just remove the offending item.

This. And maybe make them pitch bareheaded for that inning,** just to mess with their heads and give them something to think about.

** Allowing for a sweatband.

A non story to be honest, it's Shildt defending his player (he's arguably the ultimate player manager out there since Torre) it's a non-issue, and at the same time it's an issue, but it's not going to be addressed at all and we won't hear about it again in about two weeks.

and at the same time it's an issue, but it's not going to be addressed at all and we won't hear about it again in about two weeks.

Sadly, you're right.

There are TV cameras on every pitcher all the time now. If you actually watch for it, it's pretty easy to see what they do to load up their fingers--the stuff is on the bottom of their hat brim, somewhere on their belt, inside of their glove, pretty much every pitcher does this. Learning how to do it properly is an important part of a young pitcher's training, in the minors. The gentleman's agreement is that the pitcher is expected to do his stickying up in the proper discreet way, and if you don't call my pitcher on it I won't call yours--unless your pitcher is so clumsy about it, on TV, that I pretty much have to call him out lest I look like a buffoon.

As I understand it, it was the second base umpire that told Gallegos to ditch the hat and get a new one. Gallegos must have pushed it too far with loading up the hat brim. Dunno why Shildt flipped out about it.

I think it was Dirk Hayhurst who said all you really need is to mix sunscreen and rosin and you can make the ball hang off your fingertips. I assume pitchers nowadays are just using pine tar or some synthetic equivalent to speed up the process and/or make it less obvious what you're doing.

I'm watching the Padres-Astros game right now and every time Odorizzi gets a new ball, he takes his glove off, tugs at his belt with one hand, rubs the ball up, puts his glove back on, and goes to the rubber.

None of this is remotely secret.

And yet they won't do a damn thing to stop it. Maybe MLB thinks that Chicks Dig Strikeouts.