Monday night’s dustup wasn’t the first time the Yankees have had issues with showy umpire Laz Diaz.
Joe Girardi was ejected for arguing balls and strikes with Diaz, then got his money’s worth in a heated face-to-face showdown. Diaz later rung Shawn Kelley as the reliever was making his way off the mound. Asked if he believed Diaz has a problem with the Yankees, Girardi said: “That’s something you would have to ask him.’’
In 2012, also on a visit to Anaheim, catcher Russell Martin had an odd run-in with Diaz, known as a my-way-or-else ump who trucks little disagreement. Diaz would not let Martin throw the ball back to the pitcher after it went out of play, making those tosses himself.
“He told me I had to earn the privilege,’’ Martin said at the time. “That was strange and mystifying. He was punishing me.’’
Martin, who joined the Pirates before the 2013 season, returned to the Yankees clubhouse after the game yelling, “Laz Diaz is a [bleep]. Write it hard.”
Diaz, a former Marine who has been a full-time umpire since 1999, also is known for fending off an on-field assailant at Chicago’s US Cellular Field in 2003.