Justin Verlander asks fans to stop booing after questionable pitching change
Friday night was a strange night for manager-pitcher dealings around Major League Baseball.
In Washington, Max Scherzer emphatically and colorfully dismissed any thought Matt Williams had about removing him from their win against Miami. That paid off as Scherzer finished the inning unscathed.
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Meanwhile, in Detroit, Brad Ausmus was faced with his own decision with ace Justin Verlander one out shy of a complete game victory. Ausmus ended up removing Verlander, and as a result bore the wrath of the entire crowd at Comerica Park, which we’re guessing was slightly less imposing than going face-to-face with an angry Scherzer.
At the time, the Tigers were leading the game by two runs with Kansas City’s Salvador Perez coming to the plate. Over his career, Perez has done quite well against Verlander. Considering he was already over 100 pitches and Perez represented the tying run, the switch made sense. At least from a baseball perspective, which is where Ausmus’ focus obviously was. But the fans weren’t buying it at all, and then things just started to get weird.
After Verlander got back to the dugout and heard the crowd relentlessly booing everything going on, he did something very rarely seen in baseball. Verlander reemerged from the dugout and gestured to the fans to calm down. By then, his frustration with his own situation had turned to frustration with the fans, so he told them knock it off and show support for both Ausmus reliever Alex Wilson.
Many fans appeared to respond favorably, which speaks to the respect Verlander has earned. There aren’t too many players who would even feel comfortable potentially shifting the focus and the anger to himself, but it worked for the time being.
Of course, just a few pitches later, Perez delivered a game-tying homer, which ultimately sent the game into extra innings. Needless to say, that didn’t go over well either, but Verlander went as far as to defend his manager after the Tigers walked away with a 5-4 win in 12 innings.
“You know, there were a lot of positives tonight,” Verlander said. “I’m a big believer in positive energy, positive vibes. And I don’t think that was a good situation to boo. We’ve got a lot of good things going, and here comes our reliever in to a bunch of boos. Obviously, granted, it’s not for him, but I just didn’t think that was the right situation. I wished they were a little more positive in that situation. Granted, I’ve been booed, everybody’s been booed. It happens. But I’m a firm believer in positive energy.
“Obviously the fans wanted me to stay in. I want to stay in. But that’s the manager’s call. Hindsight being 20-20, it didn’t work out the way I’m sure Brad (Ausmus) would’ve liked. It was probably the worst-case scenario. But I think you look at the big overall picture. Salvador’s (Perez) somebody that’s had some success against me.”
Verlander wasn’t required to support Detroit’s reported lame duck skipper. He took the high road anyway, which speaks to his character.
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As for the boos, what can you do, really? Nobody wants to hear them, but the only way to get rid of them is to win. Detroit isn’t in a position to do that this season. Plus, they’re keeping Ausmus around despite his status being all but confirmed as fired. It’s a situation that almost begs to be booed, and that’s likely to continue through their remaining home games.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
