| After learning he is suspended for eight games, Joel Peralta will appeal the decision. (US Presswire) |
So what did Davey Johnson get out of his decision to challenge the pine tar on Joel Peralta's glove Tuesday night in Washington?
He didn't get much, except a chance to call Joe Maddon "a weird wuss."
We got a couple of days of amusement, as the two managers took shots at each other. Peralta got an eight-game suspension, which he will serve beginning on Friday night, after announcing that he has dropped his appeal.
Peralta will miss the Rays' series in Philadelphia this weekend, and also three games against the Royals and two against the Tigers, costing the Rays a reliever who has handled the eighth inning and helped enable them to withstand Kyle Farnsworth's injury.
The Rays won Tuesday's game, with Jake McGee pitching the eighth inning after Johnson got Peralta ejected. Peralta appeared in Wednesday's game, pitching a scoreless inning as the Nationals won, and pitched again Thursday, taking the loss.
MLB had little choice but to suspend Peralta, just as the umpiring crew Tuesday had little choice but to eject him. Using pine tar on the mound is against the rules, even though many pitchers do it and it's not really thought to provide any great edge.
Most managers wouldn't dare challenge an opposing pitcher for pine tar, in large part because they would open the door to having some of their pitchers challenged for the same thing. Rays manager Joe Maddon suggested that Johnson's own players would be upset with the decision to challenge, although that's probably overstating things.
More likely, there won't be much more fallout from all this -- except that Peralta will miss some games.
That could hurt the Rays. It could help the rest of the American League East. It could help the Tigers or the Yankees or the Indians or the Red Sox, depending on how the Rays do without Peralta for the next eight games.
It won't help the Nationals.