Nationals Manager Davey Martinez Makes His Case for Ejection of the Year With Epic Meltdown

Washington Nationals manager Davey Martinez took issue with the home plate umpire’s strike zone in his team’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday.

Naturally, this led to his first ejection of the season followed by a meltdown that will surely go down as one of the best of the 2023 season.

Earlier in the game, Martinez felt that the umpire was calling low pitches as strikes against his hitters. Then in the fifth inning, Martinez complained when similar pitches were called balls for the Diamondbacks’ hitters.

Thanks to the low attendance of the Thursday afternoon game, much of the yelling could be heard on the broadcast.

“Really? You’re gonna go there?” home plate ump Doug Eddings said in Martinez’s direction after calling a ball on a low pitch. “Huh? You’re gonna go there?”

Martinez was quick to defend himself, claiming, “I didn’t say shit.” Eddings fired back with, “You take care of your dugout then, whoever said it … OK, then I’ll take care of here.”

Martinez then left the dugout to speak to Eddings face-to-face. As he walked back to the dugout, he yelled back at Eddings, “Get a life! Get a fucking life!” Taking exception to this, Eddings ejected him and said, “OK, you’re done!”

That’s when — as the announcers said — Martinez got his “money’s worth.” He stormed back to Eddings to continue to complain about his strike zone. He then kicked dirt up at home plate before laying on his stomach, likely to illustrate how low he thinks the pitches were that were called strikes against his team. He had a few more things to say before exiting the game.

Martinez has not been shy in his criticism of umpires lately. During a recent post-game presser, he had a photo printed out to prove the umps missed a call that cost the Nationals a game against the Astros.

Watch above via Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.