Padres Manager Mike Shildt did not need enhanced vision to decipher balls and strikes or to yell at the home plate umpire. A reality he demonstrated by tossing his glasses on the ground before launching into an epic tirade after his star player was ejected Monday night.
San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr. was ejected after getting called out on strikes in the top of the eighth inning of the Padres’ game against the Yankees. The trouble started on a previous pitch when home plate umpire Adrian Johnson called a strike on a pitch that Tatis Jr. clearly felt was outside the strike zone. That pitch also drew a profanity-laced tirade from the dugout where Shildt made his objections known.
After Tatis Jr. was called out on strike three, the star outfielder and shortstop said something to Johnson, which got him ejected. Tatis Jr.’s tossing was all the provocation Shildt needed to give Johnson a proper ranting.
Mike Shildt let this ump HAVE IT after Fernando Tatis Jr. got tossed pic.twitter.com/Y6NEcplDU9
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 6, 2025
“My glasses made it. I did have my head about me to make sure,” the manager said after the game. “I got some — a lot of BPs on my shoulders — not as operable as I’d like, but it came into play, and I made sure it stayed in the grass. I didn’t want them scratched. I like these glasses a lot.”
He added, “I probably have the fewest amount of player ejections in my time managing, so our players play, they stay in the game, they’re very respectful, rightfully so, to the umpires. I’ll let the body of the work for the umpire grade speak for itself, and we’ll leave it at that.”
Despite losing their manager and star player, the Padres seemed to react well to the display of emotion. Though they trailed 3-0 at the time of Tatis Jr.’s ejection, they rallied to win 4-3.
