Washington Nationals General Manager and known rat Mike Rizzo went on DC sports radio to rip our very own Joe Girardi. Why? For having the umpires check Scherzer for sticky stuff, of course.

While Scherzer was pissed, which I’ll show you in a bit, Rizzo the Rat took it to a whole other level saying: “It’s embarrassing for Girardi, it’s embarrassing for the Phillies, it’s embarrassing for baseball.” 

He then followed that up by calling Joe Girardi a “con artist.” What a psycho move, dude.

Look, I get that these checks are stupid. It’s ruining the game, and it’s pissing players off. It was especially odd because Girardi asked the umpires to check Scherzer, who is one of the top pitchers in MLB. He’s definitely not one of the guys I’d think would even want to cheat.

He was insulted; here’s a clip:

In the above objectively hilarious video, you can see Max Scherzer damn near drop trou when the umps approached him. I honestly relate because when I’m as visibly upset as he was, my first move is to immediately take my pants off.

Of course, Scherzer did get fired up. This resulted in him wanting all the smoke with Girardi. A lot happened in this game, check out all the absurd happenings from it here. Back to Rizzo the Rat. I don’t like this guy talking like that about my manager. Am I Joe Girardi’s biggest fan all the time? No, but you can’t just call my guy a con artist on live radio.

How is this a con? There’s a rule, and Joe Girardi took advantage of it to piss of Scherzer, which 100% worked. Nothing shady or illegal, just doing what he’s allowed to do. It is definitely embarrassing because we didn’t even win the game. However, I would argue Mike Rizzo’s radio rant is far more embarrassing. He completely overreacted to what Girardi did.

Funnily enough, Nationals fans are a fan of that behavior, which is insane to me.

Is this really how you gauge if Mike Rizzo is a good GM? I don’t exactly think public outbursts over ultimately meaningless events should be a criterium. 

Plus, is he really that good? 33% of his payroll has gone into three starting pitchers, which is well above even the closest clubs on the list. Sure, he got the World Series ring, but he let hitters walk in favor of pitching. Now, his team can’t score a run, and they’re neck and neck with the Phillies, who STINK.

Of course, Philadelphia’s own Uncle Dave Dombrowski chimed in, “This isn’t the first time I’ve ever seen Mike say something that’s an emotional comment.” That’s a completely fair comment. I’m also pretty sure this guy got tossed from a spring training game during COVID for screaming at the umps from his luxury suite. Madman.

It was good to see Dave defend his manager from a counterpart’s slander, especially from a division rival. In the end, I’m in a weird spot here because I think the checks are stupid, but I think the players and managers getting pissed at each other isn’t the way to approach this issue at all. Rob Manfred is the real problem.

Nationals GM Mike “The Ratman” Rizzo is out here sowing division among MLB fans, which in turn will distract us from the more substantial issue of how poorly the league is run. And you know what? So am I. The article, the photoshop. All cover for Rob Manfred’s very apparent desire to kill the sport of baseball. I’ve become the very thing I sought to destroy. I don’t know how I can live with myself anymore.

Either way, you clicked. And that’s all that matters, right?

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Mandatory Credit: @ryanconway76 come get me