Quiet week – wasn’t it?

If it weren’t for a few stories about managers and their behavior, all that’s left would be near-miss no-hitters, some historic benchmarks for a couple of New York Yankees and another renewal of hostilities between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox in the Bronx. I’m probably too late to delve into Ozzie Guillen’s tirade about the lingua franca, the use of translators for the growing number of players from Asia and his claim that his son Oney has been responsible in translating for 13 Latino Chicago White Sox players.

If only A-Rod’s 600th homer spoke louder to me.

Instead, I focus my attention on two minor league managers: Jody Davis and Brent Bowers.

Just north of Safeco Field, the Boise Hawks’ manager and former Major League catcher Jody Davis decided he would be the Northwest League’s President for a fortnight. A soggy Pacific Northwest day turned the home field of the host Everett Aqua Sox turned into an adventure. The game was initially delayed for 80 minutes before play began. One of the challenges of playing in this Short Season Class-A league is the climate, which the former Chicago Cubs’ fan favorite saw firsthand when outfielder Ryan Cuneo slipped on a play that turned into a double for the Aqua Sox. Davis pointed that the field was unsafe for play. After some consideration, he pulled his team off the field.

A thirty-minute delay was in effect to see about drying off the grounds. When the umpires determined it was ready for resumption of play, David kept the Hawks off the field – forcing a forfeit.

The Northwest League’s President took action, suspending Davis until August 15. The league acknowledged that Davis’ intentions were indeed “honorable,” defying the umpires’ authority was deemed unacceptable.

What’s a manager to do? We often look at Major League umpires to determine the conditions of play. Managers know to accept the authority of the umpires, but will question them when they are in the wrong. The Florida Marlins’ Edwin Rodriguez and Detroit Tigers’ Jim Leyland know this all too well. Though in one of Leyland’s cases, the umpire in question acknowledged the mistake caused by his call during Armando Galarraga’s near-perfect game, the other incident Leyland was involved with and the latest incident involving the Marlins received no accountability by the umpires involved.

Then, there was the incident involving Bowers of the Golden Baseball League’s Edmonton Capitals. On the road in Fullerton, California playing the Orange County Flyers, Bowers went to argue a call made by umpire Billy Van Raaphost, who just happens to be openly gay. Somewhere in the argument, Bowers simply went off on umpire Van Raaphorst – calling him a homophobic epithet twice. After being tossed out of the game, Bowers knew his goose was cooked.

The league suspended Bowers for his tirade. Subsequently, Bowers went to his front office superiors and tendered his resignation. The management of the Capitals (also the owners of the Edmonton Oilers of the NHL) was considering terminating Bowers, but they claimed their now ex-manager beat them to it.

When examining this issue, visions of Ozzie popped up in my head. It’s one thing for Guillen to call a reporter the same epithet a few years back – that’s just Ozzie being Mr. Inappropriate. Ozzie knows his responsibility, but he also knows that he is a loudmouthed and unfiltered ball of plutonium who had his battles with White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams on more than a few times when everyone wanted his head on a platter. Or, as Jerry Reinsdorf would insinuate: Both of their heads!

And, speaking of managers with their heads of the platter – Don Wakamatsu was canned today by the Seattle Mariners. I figured I throw that out there…

The actions of Davis and Bowers regarding their relationships with the umpire’s authority may be seen as sensationalized situations that blare on the radar for a minute. They serve as examples of the fragility of the manager’s job. Simply put: Darned if you do, darned if you don’t.