You probably already know that Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon can be a fiery young fella. He can be brash and unafraid to speak his mind.
But his comments about umpire D.J. Reyburn following Monday night's 4-3 loss -- where Paps thought he had Dee Gordon struck out before the Dodgers speedster tripled -- are probably going to net him some sort of punishment, since Paps said (and you can watch it in the CSNPhilly.com video below) that Reyburn needs to "go back to Triple-A."
"He probably needs to go back to Triple-A. You're up in the big leagues to do a good job and when you don't do a good job you should be demoted or fired," Papelbon said. "It's just like anybody's job. If I don't do my job, I go down to Triple-A. There's no room for that up here. It's not a knock on the umpires. It's the integrity of the game. You want to be able to go out there and play the game the way it should be played."
As you can see, Paps wasn't just done with that paragraph of vitriol -- he flat-out said that Reyburn "sucked."
"I thought he was terrible -- all day. It wasn't just that pitch," Papelbon said. "All I wanted to know was if he could throw me out for what I was thinking, and if he could, I thought he sucked. It's that simple."
Look, Papelbon might be right, and Reyburn might be terrible at his job. But these sort of comments are the ones that will quickly get Bud Selig and the MLB front office to drop some fines on your head, if only to make an example out of someone who rips the umps.
