Major League Baseball

MINNY MELTDOWN - WENDELSTEDT EJECTS GARDENHIRE - AGAIN

Published Oct. 8, 2010 10:23 p.m. ET

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MINNEAPOLIS - Manager Ron Gardenhire believed home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt got last night's controversial pitch to Lance Berkman wrong, but both the manager and pitcher Carl Pavano refused to blame the call for the Twins' 5-2 Game 2 loss to the Yankees.

In the top of the seventh inning, Pavano threw a 1-2 pitch to Berkman that Wendelstedt called a ball. Upon replay, it was clear the pitch was a strike.

On the next pitch, Berkman delivered an RBI double to put the Yankees ahead 3-2, and they never trailed again. Gardenhire then went to the mound to talk to Pavano, and after Wendelstedt went to the mound himself, Gardenhire began yelling at the ump and got ejected.

"I thought the ball was a strike. He didn't call it a strike, and I wanted to make sure he knew that," Gardenhire said. "But I wanted to get [Wendelstedt] away from my guys because there are a lot of guys full of emotion at that time and I wanted Carl to concentrate."

According to a CBS Sportsline report, Wendelstedt has ejected Gardenhire on several occasions.

"He's got an attitude," he said in the Aug. 7, 2009 report. "At home a few years back, he said, 'You're just out here for showtime.' He's got a smart mouth, and tonight was ridiculous really."

Last night, however, Gardenhire said his relationship with Wendelstedt "has nothing to do with it. Hunter and I talked and we kind of straightened all our stuff away."

Gardenhire also said the call wasn't the only reason why his team lost.

"We didn't get it done tonight," he said. "They got it done. They got some hits. We played hard. We had our chances. ... It is baseball. It is the human element and it is the way it is in this game."

Wendelstedt was not available for comment after the game. But when crew chief Jerry Crawford, speaking to a pool reporter, was asked what Gardenhire said, Crawford replied, "Balls and strikes.That simple."

Berkman said he thought the pitch was called correctly. "I felt like it was a ball," he said. "I've had a lot of people ask me about it, and like it was right down the middle or something. That's a very borderline pitch."

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