During Monday’s game against the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox pitcher Lance Lynn had an apparent disagreement with third base coach Joe McEwing in the dugout. The Bally Sports Detroit television cameras caught a glimpse of it:
Lance Lynn got into a verbal spat with White Sox third base coach Joe McEwing between innings pic.twitter.com/nJhtutPEEI
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 14, 2022
Well, after the game, Lynn had a very interesting explanation to the media about the incident with McEwing.
Lance Lynn, on his exchange with Joe McEwing in the dugout: pic.twitter.com/lZLGSYvy5K
— Slavko Bekovic (@SBekovic) June 14, 2022
“He was trying to get me going. He kept telling me that, like, filet is better than ribeye. I’m more of a ribeye and potatoes guy. He’s a filet and, like, Caesar salad. So, I just told him he was wrong, and then he went back to coaching third.”
That sounds straight out of the “rat or raccoon” playbook from the New York Mets.
So, what was the argument really about?
The assumption was that it may be about defensive positioning. Lynn allowed 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings pitched, and only one of those hits was a home run. He allowed what would generally be an extremely unlucky batting average of balls in play (BABIP) of .529 in the game; his career BABIP allowed is .298, for example. So, perhaps Lynn thought some of those hits should’ve turned into outs, and perhaps he got angry at McEwing — a former MLB utility man — about the team’s defensive positioning.
White Sox manager Tony La Russa — though White Sox fans don’t want him having that job any longer — claims that Lynn was just mad at himself.
La Russa on Lynn, and the exchange with McEwing. pic.twitter.com/PVJO4s8CDb
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) June 14, 2022
It’s a lot easier to brush aside such an incident when it happened in a winning effort, and the White Sox indeed won, 9-5.
[Photo Credit: Bally Sports Detroit]
