Nationals OF Jose Guillen previously stirred the pot (hopefully filled with tasty soup or gumbo) in the Angels clubhouse, angered that the (then) Anaheim pitching staff didn’t have his back. Deja vu all over again, writes the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga.
For the first three months of the season, outfielder Jose Guillen has been welcomed by the Washington Nationals, both because of his bat and his apparent desire to win. But Tuesday night, after being hit by a pitch in the Nationals’ 3-2 victory over the New York Mets, Guillen had a flare-up that several Nationals players and coaches said concerned them.
Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez hit Guillen with a pitch in the first inning, and Guillen — according to several sources — became incensed that the Nationals didn’t retaliate. Several sources said he had a confrontation in the dugout prior to the bottom of the second inning with pitcher Esteban Loaiza and catcher Brian Schneider.
“He was on first base, and then we went back on the field [in the top of the second], and then came back in the dugout, and it was our turn up to bat, and he said he told me to hit somebody,” Loaiza said yesterday. “He never mentioned anything to me, and then he started going after Schneider. And Schneider didn’t hear him, either.
“And everybody was mad. I was mad. Eventually, some of our teammates had to calm us down. We still had a lot more game left.”
Loaiza, who gave up one run in just more than eight innings, said retaliation, in such a close game, was ill-advised. “We don’t need to get nobody thrown out,” he said.