PHILLIES NOTES: Bowa again lets emotions out

PHILADELPHIA In 16 years as a player, six seasons as a manager and 19 as a coach, Larry Bowa has rarely hid his emotions.

Even at age 69, Bowa’s penchant for getting riled up hasn’t waned.

A pitch zooming past Darin Ruf before he’d looked up was more than enough to unleash the fiery Bowa’s temper Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park.

Bowa, the Phillies’ bench coach, blew his top in the seventh inning of the Phillies’ 6-5 loss to the Mets, resulting in his ejection, when New York reliever Hansel Robles quick-pitched Ruf. The right-handed Ruf was in the batter’s box but not looking at the pitcher, a right-hander.

Ruf’s teammates were equally outraged. One of them, Jeff Francoeur, had to be restrained as he approached home plate along with Bowa, and both benches then emptied.

Home-plate umpire Dan Bellino waved off the pitch, meaning it didn’t count. But that did nothing to quiet Bowa and Francoeur.

Bowa explained before Wednesday night’s Phillies-Mets game was set him off.

“It was about injuries,” an animated Bowa explained in the Phillies dugout. “We protect the catchers. We protect second (base). We protect short. When you’re in the box, and the first thing you do is you check your stance, and your head’s down and you look up and the ball’s right here, someone’s going to get hurt.

“And if it hits somebody in the face, they could get killed. That’s all that is.”

Video also showed Bowa, after his ejection, cursing at Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy.

“He hit a home run and we were getting blown out and (he) flipped his bat and he’s a veteran,” Bowa said. “And I said, ‘You know, flipping the bat in a big game. That’s weak, too.’ ”

Robles had thrown a similarly ill-timed pitch the night before to Cameron Rupp, Bowa felt. Others have quick-pitched the Phillies this year, including the Mets’ Jeurys Familia and Toronto’s LaTroy Hawkins. But those pitches came with the hitter in the batter’s box and looking.

“He did it the night before,” Bowa said. “That's what made it even worse. And the umpire, Dan, said ‘I called no pitch.' It doesn’t matter. The pitch was on the way.

“So if Ruf looks up, yeah, he threw a strike. But they make mistakes throwing the baseball. They throw one up and in and the guy turns around, the ball’s 10 inches from his face. There’s no reason for that."

In the Phillies’ locker room before Wednesday’s game, Ruf confessed to his own surprise.

“I wasn’t expecting him to throw a ball when I wasn’t looking,” he said. “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a pitch delivered when a hitter wasn’t looking.”

Robles, speaking through an interpreter, said after Tuesday’s game he was surprised by the Phillies’ reaction, according to the New York Daily News.

“I am doing exactly what I have done before,” he said.

Mets manager Terry Collins didn’t feel Robles made a mistake.

“Until they make the pitch illegal, you can do it,” said Collins, who added that he is close friends with Bowa and they have worked together.

Bowa said he had not heard from Joe Torre, Major League Baseball’s chief baseball officer, about any potential fine or reprimand.

"Oh, I’m sure Joe Torre will send me a nice letter,’’ he deadpanned.

Bowa was a coach when Torre managed the Yankees and Dodgers.

“There’s a right way and a wrong way to quick pitch,” Bowa said. “Hawkins quick-pitches but every time he quick-pitches he deviates his windup. Two nights in a row, the hitter’s head was down, they’re taking the bat back and they look up and the ball's right there. That’s all that’s about, hurting somebody and ending somebody’s career. A guy throwing 95 miles an hour. There’s no reason for that.

“You can say old school, new school, whatever school you want. We’re talking about injuries in the game of baseball. And they’re doing a great job with the catcher, short and second, trying to keep them in the game. A hitter can get killed on a 95-mile-an-hour fastball, when he looks up and the ball’s right there.’’

Phillies manager Pete Mackanin echoed Bowa, saying “the Ruf incident was a little bit hairy because he just picked his head up and the ball was on its way.’’

He was glad to see his team show some fighting spirit but also was glad Francouer, whom he’d planned to use off the bench, could be reeled in before also getting tossed.

“You know we say we’re young but these guys are not young enough to where they haven’t gone through this.” Mackanin said. “A lot of the Latinos, they play in Venezuela, in the Dominican, in Mexico. The word ‘fanatico’ came from somewhere, definitely from Latin America. Those fans are pretty fanatical. They understand the importance.

“Our pitchers – all of them, the Latin guys, the North Americans – they’re always worried that the guy on second base is stealing signs, giving location on a pitch, the catcher’s looking at the hitter before he gives a sign to see if he’s peeking. They’re all aware of that. They’re young but they’re not ignorant of that part of the game. Seeing it happen here I think is good for them, especially when you’re playing for something, like the Mets are.”

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @kevintresolini.