Rizzo is latest unusual ejection for Nats in unusual year

Twenty-four hours later, Nationals manager Davey Martinez still isn't entirely sure what happened between general manager Mike Rizzo and the umpiring crew during Sunday's series finale in Atlanta.

"I'm actually still a little confused about the whole deal," Martinez said during his Zoom session with reporters before tonight's series opener against the Rays. "I didn't realize, honestly. I didn't realize he got thrown out."

Rizzo did get thrown out by home plate Hunter Wendelstedt in the seventh inning of Sunday's loss to the Braves. Crew chief Joe West then came in from his position at first base, motioning for Rizzo to leave his luxury suite at Truist Park and called on a telephone from the dugout to ensure he departed.

As West told The Associated Press, the Nationals general manager was yelling phrases like "you're brutal" from his suite two levels up at Truist Park and the longtime umpire decided "enough was enough."

"I wouldn't take that from a player. I wouldn't take that from a manager," West told the AP on Sunday night. "If it was Donald Trump, I'd eject him, too. But I'd still vote for him."

Rizzo, who on Saturday signed a three-year contract extension that will keep him with the Nationals through the 2023 season, has not commented on his surprise ejection, but it's merely the latest in a series of out-of-the-ordinary exchanges between club personnel and umpires during this most unusual season.

The Nationals saw Stephen Strasburg get ejected from the stands Aug. 13 in New York, the World Series MVP tipping his cap to umpire Carlos Torres on his way out. Three days later in Baltimore, hitting coach Kevin Long was ejected from the dugout and pitcher Aníbal Sánchez was asked by crew chief Ángel Hernández to leave the stands (even though he wasn't officially ejected).

So are guys saying more things, or saying worse things, to umpires this season? Or are umpires simply able to hear more this season with no fans in attendance?

"I honestly just think you can hear a lot more," Martinez said. "There's just no noise. At some point, I think it's better that they just put that fake fan noise louder, so you can't hear. A lot of times because of these things right here (holding up his mask), I can be screaming and they don't hear me anyway. So it is what it is. But when you're one person in the crowd and you're screaming, they're going to know where you're at. I think that's what's happening."

Because none of the Nationals' ejections to date have involved anyone playing in that particular game, they haven't cost the club on the field. If anything, they've provided some amusing anecdotes and opportunities for fans to hear more of what's actually being to and from umpires.

But given how easy it is this season to hear every little gripe from every corner of the ballpark, does everyone need to be more careful?

"I'll be totally honest with you: When we feel like a guy had a missed call and the player argues, I'm going to defend the player," Martinez said. "And honestly, I'm going to be pissed off. And then I get pissed off and I start yelling, and a lot of times they don't hear me or they don't want to look my way.

"But it is different. A lot of players have just said what they have to say and just walked off. We haven't had a guy get thrown out yet because they'll kind of say what they need to say, and they keep walking off. I think that's a big difference. If there's fans here, it would be a lot different. We don't see guys walking off. We see a lot more guys getting thrown out. It's a part of this year."