Rays' Peralta ejected for pine tar in glove

Rays' Peralta ejected for pine tar in glove

June 20, 2012
By Joy R. Absalon, US PRESSWIRE
Tampa Bay Rays relief pitcher Joel Peralta was ejected from Tuesday night's game against the Washington Nationals before ever throwing a pitch.

Peralta, who entered the game in the eighth inning to relieve David Price, was approached by home plate umpire and crew chief Tim Tschida to examine his glove.

The glove was investigated and confiscated by the umpiring crew and Peralta was immediately ejected from the game.

Tschida said there was a 'significant amount of pine tar' on Peralta's glove.


Nationals manager Davey Johnson must have known something was suspscious when he challenged Tschida to check it before the inning started. Peralta played for the Nationals in 2010, and a former player may have alerted Johnson of his history.

"If somebody has been known to use a foreign substance on their glove or their hat, a nice hot night is the time to use it," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. "And so I asked them to check, obviously he had it."

As Peralta walked off the mound, he turned to the Nationals dugout and tipped his cap.

"To single out Joel Peralta tonight and make him look like a bad guy or a villain of any kind, that's what upsets me, that this is all going to lay on Joel and I don't like that at all," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

According to Rule 8 of the MLB official rulebook, a pitcher "shall not ... apply a foreign substance of any kind to the ball."

The penalty: The pitcher "shall be ejected immediately from the game and shall be suspended automatically. ... for 10 games."

Maddon called Johnson's move "cowardly."

"Insider trading, man. It's bush," Maddon said. "It's bogus. That's way too easy, right there."

In response, Maddon asked Tschida to check the glove of Nationals reliever Ryan Mattheus in the ninth inning, but nothing was found.

Peralta 's explanation? "That's a glove that I use for batting practice every day. I'm every day playing catch with it, it's hot here — that's all I'm going to say about it."

This isn't the first time a pitcher has been caught using a foreign substance. In 2005, Angels reliever Brendan Donnelly was suspended 10 days by Major League Baseball for having pine tar on his glove during a game against the Nationals.

Pine tar is known to be used to improve grip on the ball in cold weather. But it's still unclear whether it gives a pitcher a competitive advantage.

At least for Peralta and the Rays, they got the last laugh as they beat the Nationals 5-4.

"Good for them," Peralta said. "They still lose the game."
From freep.com