San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello was ejected from Sunday's season finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The weather conditions for the San Francisco Giants’ final game of the season were nice on Sunday as they hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oracle Park. However, while the attending fans had the opportunity to enjoy 61 degrees and partly cloudy skies, things quickly heated up on the field.
In the top of the third inning, Giants manager Tony Vitello became angry over a check-swing call that he believed should have been a strike on Mookie Betts. Instead, it was called a ball, and it led to Vitello arguing with the umpires.
Eventually, the angry exchange culminated in Vitello’s ejection from what ended up being a 5-1 loss for San Francisco, and it concluded a difficult season for the first-year skipper.
Emblematic frustration
Ejections happen in baseball. Sometimes, they are necessary.
Managers have to show that they are willing to stick up for their team, even if consequences ensue. Vitello was demonstrating his willingness to fight for his clubhouse, but his frustration, which culminated in an MLB-leading seventh ejection, paints a bigger picture.
Nothing about Vitello’s first season as the Giants’ manager was easy. As someone who was revered as a college coach but had never held a Major League Baseball coaching position, this was quite a transition and one that was overwhelming.
When Vitello made his way to San Francisco, the Giants already had plenty of flaws, with losing seasons and missed playoff appearances to show for it. On an individual level, Vitello had to deal with the chatter and the unsupportive gaze being cast upon him by some others in MLB.
Vitello was being counted out and rooted against. Some individuals felt he was not ready for the job, or that he was undeserving of moving up the ranks to a managerial position. When the Giants began struggling immediately, the criticism became louder.
Vitello did his best to remain optimistic and focused on the task at hand, but he also admitted the difficulty of losing baseball games. In a recent Q & A with Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic, Vitello was candid about his feelings of frustration.
He felt that he could not be the type of coach he wanted to be, and he was hard on himself even in the face of victory. As the coach of Tennessee's baseball program for nearly a decade, Vitello was not used to losing.
When he came to San Francisco, it started happening a lot, and he could not get the Giants back on track. Therefore, Sunday's ejection seemed like it was more than just a willingness to stand up for his players and the fans in hopes of getting the right call; it was a chance to let frustration out one last time to conclude a season that has been an uphill battle.
