Not much worth paying attention to in Redsland these days, with Cincinnati dead last in the NL Central despite Sunday’s 10-5 win over the Mets. The rare exception? Manager Bryan Price’s beef with umpires, and the question of whether he’d keep it up in the face of the impending rendition of “God Bless America.”
“That was the most interested in an argument that I’ve ever been,” said catcher Tucker Barnhart. “I was really anxious to see what was going to happen. Is he going to argue through ‘God Bless America?’”
Scooter Gennett wasn’t happy with a strike three call to end the top of the seventh, so he slammed his gear and promptly got ejected. Price came out, and he was probably going to get ejected too, but he was saved by Irving Berlin’s classic—he and umpires Shane Livensparger and Jerry Layne had to quickly switch gears to honor America:
Price, as you can see, continued muttering a bit, but there was still some drama to come. Would he pick up where he left off?
“We were like, ‘This is kind of awkward,’” shortstop Zack Cozart said. “‘They’re going to have to stop their argument. Are they going to go back at it after it’s over with?’”
Alas, no. Price had calmed down by song’s end, and returned to the dugout. Afterward he joked with reporters, “I believe in honoring the flag, I can tell you that.”