Joe Girardi’s hissy fit and subsequent ejection for arguing with the umpires over what he thought was a missed balk call on Orioles’ starter Kevin Gausman last night was another reminder that nobody in baseball complains as much as the Yankees’ skipper. While Joe’s wrath on Thursday evening was directed towards the umpiring crew, he has not been shy about getting into it with the Orioles in the past. Below is a brief and likely incomplete history of Joe Girardi vs. the Baltimore Orioles. Please feel free to let me know any incidents that I might have forgotten.

· Joe Girardi vs. Jeremy Guthrie and Hit Batters

o March 30, 2010 – Guthrie hits Mark Teixeira on the wrist during a late ST game. The timing of the incident (occurring right at the start of the season) “irks” Girardi. Girardi takes out his frustration by yelling at something – either at Guthrie or at a Yankee water cooler depending on what you wish to believe.

o April 29, 2010 – Guthrie hits Jorge Posada leading Joe to passive aggressively wish that Guthrie “had better command.”

o September 19, 2010 – Guthrie hits Derek Jeter with the first pitch of a game. Girardi is more direct in his criticism this go around: “Too many, just too many. I don’t really understand it, and I know he likes to pitch inside, but it’s too many.”

· Joe Girardi vs. The Weather

o August 27, 2011 – With the Orioles organization still reeling over the suicide death of Mike Flanagan three days earlier and with the remnants of Hurricane Irene hammering the east coast, Girardi’s mind is on the important things in life such as rescheduling make up games to best meet the needs and desires of the New York Yankees. He vows to “fight” the Orioles’ decision to reschedule Saturday’s canceled games (the teams were to play a doubleheader) as part of a Sunday doubleheader and on a mutual off day in early September, respectively. Girardi offered two solutions neither of which were legitimate unless the criteria considered is helping out the Yankees. The first suggestion was to shuffle around the weekend schedule in advance and book double headers on both Friday and Sunday. The O’s finished a game in Minnesota close to midnight on Thursday meaning even a single admission double header (which would cost the organization one game of ticket revenue) starting at 4:05 would result in a 12-hour turnaround by the time the team plane landed in Baltimore early Friday morning. Not to be deterred, Girardi also kindly offered up that the teams play a double header in New York when the Orioles visited ten days later. As if money was the only concern with that plan, the Yankees offered to share the ticket revenue with the Orioles. To nobody’s surprise but Joe Girardi’s, the Orioles declined both suggestions. Girardi seemed unaware or indifferent to the fact that he took the organization to task for not pre-planning around the weather a day or two after they tragically lost an active and important member of the organization.

o May 3, 2016 – After the Orioles finish their round of batting practice somewhere around 5:30, the OPACY grounds crew places the tarp over the field effectively canceling New York’s batting practice session. Girardi accuses Showalter and the O’s of gamesmanship by using the weather to deprive the offensively challenged Yankees of their hitting practice. In Joe’s professional meteorologist opinion, “It didn't seem to rain. I don't know. I wasn't out here, but it didn't seem to rain much." Weather tracking systems that were “out there” show that it did rain during the time the Yankees would have taken BP (even if not very much).

· Joe Girardi versus Bobby Dickerson and Sign Stealing

o September 9, 2013 – In the early going of a September game at Camden Yards, Girardi reportedly screams at third base coach Bobby Dickerson who he suspects of stealing the Yankees’ signs. This prompts Buck Showalter to come out of the dugout in between innings in defense of his third base coach which leads to a highly entertaining shouting match between the two managers.

Orioles Observer