BALTIMORE — Buck Showalter insisted his Orioles team was not trying to steal the Yankees’ signs when Joe Girardi began yelling at Baltimore third base coach Bobby Dickerson in Monday’s game, but he also said almost every team does it.
“You should be conscious of that,” Showalter said before Tuesday’s game at Camden Yards. “And you should do it if you can get them. They’re right there for everybody to see, if you figure out the signals.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Showalter said during a radio interview that the “Yankees are actually one of the better teams at it,” but during his pregame press conference denied singling out the Yankees.
“I could go through a lot of teams,” Showalter said. “Toronto, there are probably 15 teams. … A lot of clubs have people who do nothing else but watch the sequences that every pitcher uses.”
Just how common a practice stealing signs is can be debated, but it’s certainly unusual for opposing managers to go after each other the way Showalter and Girardi did Monday, when umpires had to get in the middle of them after the first inning.
A source said Major League Baseball is looking into the incident, although Showalter said he hasn’t spoken to anyone from the league.
“It’s easy to camouflage it to keep them from getting [the signs],” Showalter said. “It’s part of the game. It kind of falls under ‘Captain Obvious.’ First of all, nobody can keep a secret in the game, we all know that. Guys get traded and you know things in two days.”
Girardi refused to delve too deeply into Monday’s argument or into Showalter’s accusations.
“You have to protect everything,” Girardi said. “Catchers have to move late; they have to change their signs; the signs can’t be simple. It’s been going on for years. … It went on when I played and I’m sure it went on way before that.”
When asked what made Girardi snap the way he did Monday, the manager said: “I’ll do everything I can to protect our players and I’ll leave it at that. I’m not going to go into exactly what happened.”
Girardi’s outburst no doubt had something to do with the Yankees’ place in the standings, as they try to stay within striking distance of the second wild card.
They had hoped to make a dent in deficit against the Red Sox in The Bronx but lost three of four and then dropped the first game of a 10-game road trip Monday to Baltimore.
“It seems like we get into a game like [Monday] night, we’ve had so many of those games with this club over the last two years,” Girardi said. “We’ve been so evenly matched and it was another tight one [Monday].”
Neither manager, though, expected there to be any carryover into Tuesday’s game.
“You’ve got to be able to turn the page, whether it’s players, managers, coaches,” Girardi said. “Whatever happens, a new day comes up and you move on.”
Including Tuesday, the two teams had three games for more fireworks to erupt.
“It’s two very competitive groups competing for the same thing,” Showalter said. “That’s the way it’s supposed to be, right? It matters. You care.”
And despite his volatile reaction Monday, Showalter said he was not stunned by Girardi having gone after Dickerson.
“I’m not surprised by anything anymore,” Showalter said. “We move on.”