Wieters explains what led to his third career ejection

CHICAGO - Matt Wieters, by his own admission, isn't the type to argue with umpires very much. Certainly not to the extent he risks ejection.

But every once in a while, the Nationals catcher feels like he needs to make a point. Usually when it comes to balls and strikes. And so when he felt it was necessary in the bottom of the sixth Saturday afternoon, he let plate umpire Chad Whitson know it. And then was forced to watch the rest of the Nationals' 7-4 loss to the Cubs from the clubhouse.

It was only the third ejection in Wieters' nine-year career, his first with the Nats.

"I've got a couple," he said. "They're spread out over my career. But normally balls and strikes. I know those guys are trying hard. I know they're doing their best. But I just thought (the Nats' opponents) had a different strike zone than we had. And that's about the only time I'll ever get heated with an umpire, when I feel their pitchers are getting more pitches than our pitchers."

Wieters' complaint with Whitson boiled down to this: He felt Cubs pitchers were getting strike calls off the outside corner to left-handed batters, but Nationals pitchers weren't getting the same calls.

It came to a head in the bottom of the sixth, when Matt Grace didn't get two calls on the outside corner, one to catcher Alex Avila, one to right fielder Jason Heyward. Grace did wind up retiring both batters, but after Heyward struck out, Wieters said something to Whitson as he headed toward the dugout. Whitson, a Triple-A umpire who is filling in for veteran Phil Cuzzi, quickly ejected him.

"To be honest with you, he pretty much already gave me a warning to quit arguing balls and strikes," Wieters said. "I was more arguing that they had a different strike zone than we had. That's what I thought for most of the game. Our left-handed hitters were getting some pitches called that were off the plate to them, and we had a couple pitches that last inning that we didn't get that were really close, if not strikes. I thought his opinion obviously differed from mine. But I thought they had a little bit more liberal strike zone, for whatever reason, on the outside corner today."

Based on the strike zone plot on BrooksBaseball.net, Wieters had a point. Whitson called strikes on eight pitches thrown by the Cubs off the outer edge of the plate to left-handed batters. He called only two similar strikes on pitches thrown by the Nationals. And both of Grace's disputed pitches in the sixth inning that were called balls were in the vicinity of pitches the Cubs threw that were called strikes.

"It just gets to a point there," said Wieters, who does have a well-known reputation as a poor pitch-framer. "I thought those were way closer pitches than one of the pitches I saw when I was on second with (Brian Goodwin at bat in the third inning). It was not even close. And when we can't get just off the plate or even nicking the corner, I've got a little problem with that."