The umpires speak

Tonight, I served as the pool reporter for the reporters covering the game and asked some post-game questions to crew chief Gary Darling about the ejections of Ty Wigginton and pitching coach Rick Kranitz from tonight's game. Darling admitted that he got the call at first base wrong on the tag play and safe call in the top of the seventh that led to Wigginton's argument and ejection. "We looked at it, he missed him the first time and on a close play, he got him the second time it looked like. It was a close play." I asked Darling if Wigginton bumped him during their argument. "Yes," he said. I asked him what happens now, if he contends that a player bumped an umpire. "I will send in my report to the league and they make the decision on anything." He said Wigginton bumped him in the chest. I asked Darling if he thought Wigginton went too far in his argument and he would not comment, except to say "everyone saw how he reacted." O's pitching coach Rick Kranitz contends he didn't say anything but was ejected from the game. When I asked Darling about Kranitz's ejection, umpire Bill Hohn said the following: "I ejected him for his actions on the bench, is the reason why he got ejected. He knows the reason why he got ejected. You saw what he did on the field." I asked Hohn if he would comment on what actions he saw from Kranitz that led to his ejection. "No," he said. "It was uncalled for, unprofessional and uncalled for." In a few minutes I'll post comments from Wigginton and Kranitz.