masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgManager Buck Showalter usually takes the lineup card to home plate only before the first game of a series, but he’ll handle those duties again today. He figures it’s a good idea to wipe the slate clean after last night’s two ejections.

“Turn the page,” he said. “It’s part of it. It’s a tough game to umpire, a fast game. I was talking to Larry Young about it, one of the umpire evaluators or whatever they call them, and you understand. The game moves so fast, sometimes it’s an educated…Manager Buck Showalter usually takes the lineup card to home plate only before the first game of a series, but he’ll handle those duties again today. He figures it’s a good idea to wipe the slate clean after last night’s two ejections.

“Turn the page,” he said. “It’s part of it. It’s a tough game to umpire, a fast game. I was talking to Larry Young about it, one of the umpire evaluators or whatever they call them, and you understand. The game moves so fast, sometimes it’s an educated guess. It’s tough.”

Showalter isn’t sure whether he’ll hear from the commissioner’s office on Monday.

“We’ll deal with it if and when,” he said. “I hadn’t really given it a lot of thought. Now I will. What do you think?”

When I pointed out that nothing was thrown onto the field from the dugout, Showalter smiled and said, “You weren’t watching very closely.”

Showalter rushed onto the field in the ninth to prevent catcher Matt Wieters from being thrown out.

“I was getting ready to lose my catcher,” Showalter said. “Let’s do the math. He puts down 120, 150 fingers a night and he gets four at-bats. What impacts the game more? And the pitchers know that Matt cares. Regardless of how he’s doing at the plate, what he’s doing back there behind it impacts the game more. And I want to make sure he’s there to do it.”

Nick Markakis earned his first career ejection, which surprised a lot of people because he comes across as such a low-key personality.

“I can tell you this, there’s a real strong fire burning there underneath,” Showalter said. “It may not always show verbally and between the lines, but in the dugout and clubhouse, maybe when everybody’s not around, he cares a lot. And sometimes you have to voice it. Unfortunately, sometimes guys like him get taken advantage of. Every once in a while, (umpires) have to know, I’m not going to just sit there when it does happen.”