Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was ejected during his team's Saturday contest against the Yankees (MIN-NYY GameTracker) after a flare-up over what appeared to be a "sticky stuff" controversy involving New York starting pitcher Domingo Germán.
Baldelli's 12th career ejection happened after a lengthy = check and discussion regarding Yankees starter Germán and his possible use of a grip-enhancing substance. German was checked coming off the mound after his third inning of work by crew chief James Hoye, and the check appeared to be more involved than the usual inspection. The Twins' television broadcast undertook some replay lip-reading of Hoye's talk with German, and play-by-play man Dick Bremer posited that Hoye said something along the lines of, "I told you to wipe it off."
When Germán returned for the top of the fourth the umpires appeared to revisit the matter with Germán and an increasingly heated Aaron Boone:
Germán was allowed to take the mound and continue pitching, which suggests that umpires did not discover clear evidence of "sticky stuff," and that led to Baldelli's argument and ejection:
Presumably, Baldelli's objections went something like: if you found something on him, then he should've been ejected; if you didn't find anything, then why all the discussions with Germán and Boone?
MLB prior to the start of this season announced ramped-up checks for the use of foreign substances by pitchers. Such substances have long been used by pitchers, but increased use of them and the development of more effective grip-enhancers have allowed pitchers to artificially increase spin rates and by the extension the quality of their stuff. On that point, it's worth noting that Germán through those early innings on Saturday did not show any notable increase in his spin rates.
Germán entered Saturday's contest with a 5.87 ERA through his first two starts of the season. Against the Twins, however, he was perfect through five innings with 10 strikeouts.
