Tony Vitello made his first unnecessary mistake as the manager of the San Francisco Giants, and it was a tough look
Former Tennessee Vols baseball coach Tony Vitello is still getting accustomed to life in the big leagues. Vitello’s had an up-and-down start in his role as the manager of the San Francisco Giants.
Former Tennessee Vols coach Tony Vitello has experienced some adversity in his first two weeks as the manager of the San Francisco Giants.
The Giants are 3-7 through the first 10 games of the season.
Vitello is the first manager in the modern era to make the jump from college to the big leagues without previous MLB or minor league experience. As a result, there are a lot of eyes on Vitello this spring. Every decision he makes is going to be under the microscope as he adjusts to life in the big leagues.
Tony Vitello makes first unnecessary mistake with the Giants
The Giants lost 5-2 to the New York Mets on Sunday. San Francisco won the series opener against New York last Thursday before dropping the next three games to the Mets.
In the series finale, Vitello made his first less-than-ideal decision. And it wasn’t the best look.
With his team leading 2-1 in the bottom of the 7th, Vitello was ejected for arguing with an umpire after a Giants baserunner was called out for interfering with the throw to first base.
The baserunner didn’t actually touch the throw, but the umpire ruled that he was running on the cut of the grass, which impeded the throw to the first baseman. The call was correct according to the rule.
After the game, Vitello said that the umpire probably made the right call before rambling about how he had lost games in college on a similar play.
“I’m sure he got it exactly technically right,” said Vitello of the umpire’s ruling. “It’s just a play I’ve got a lot of history with… Lost a game to Lipscomb on that play, lost the game to (then Oklahoma State coach) Frank Anderson and a Big 12 championship on that play….again, umpires are held accountable by what the rules are, and they enforce those rules.”
It sounds like Vitello wanted to argue the rule more than the call. And I’m sure he quickly learned that it’s never appropriate to argue rules with an umpire in the middle of the game. Vitello may not like the rule, and he may have a point, but arguing what should and shouldn’t be a rule in the middle of a game is never going to fly. It’s also not smart — Vitello doesn’t need to soil his reputation with umpires just two weeks into the season.
The worst part of the ejection for Vitello, who was relatively mild-mannered for every other inning of the four-game series, is that his team was up 2-1 at the time of the ejection. The Giants badly needed to win that game to split the series with the Mets.
Look, it’s no secret that the Giants haven’t played well to start the season. But that wasn’t a spot where Vitello needed to get ejected to fire up his team. It was a close game. Vitello needed to be in the dugout for the final couple of innings. But instead, he let past memories of lost college games influence the way he handled an easy call.
That’s a situation where Vitello just needs to come out and get some clarification on the call before heading back to the dugout. It certainly wasn’t a situation where the young manager needed to get ejected.
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