If Phil Hughes is "the next Roger Clemens" then I think we've found the "next Lou Pinella."
In quick order, the manager: tossed his hat to the pitcher's mound; took a head-first slide into second; uprooted the base, showed it to Russell and tossed it, a la Lou Piniella; grabbed the resin bag and flung it to the right-field bullpen; confronted plate umpire Stephen Barga and kicked dirt on the ump's feet; kicked the batter's box lines; kicked dirt on the plate; went to his knees to further cover the plate by hand; fired four bats from the dugout; returned to "clean" home plate with contents of a water bottle; squatted in the umpire position in a mock glance toward the mound; and spiked the bottle on the plate. "I thought the strike was over," Mikulik said. "When will the real umpires show up? That's what I want to know. Because that was an abortion. That was bad. The whole series was awful." As Mikulik took the long walk to the right-field exit, sounds of a crying baby and then Hit the Road Jack blared over the P.A. system. According to Legends officials, Mikulik then stacked a chair, two water coolers and a batting-practice screen in front of the door to the umpire locker room. "I just wish the umpire's association would train their young men to have a personality," Mikulik said. "I could get two mannequins at Sears and umpire better than what I saw this whole series." The manager was asked what he expected to hear when league president John Henry Moss calls. "I already talked to John Henry. I've got that covered," he said. "This ain't my first rodeo. ... I didn't touch anybody. I never bumped anybody. ... I actually cleaned home plate for them, so they should give me a tip for that." While conceding that he deserves a fine, Mikulik says that a suspension would be unwarranted. "If it is, the two guys in the other room should be suspended for the way they carried this series," he said. "They should be suspended for abusing the game of baseball."
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