D-backs Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa during Tuesday night's game against the Pirates at PNC Park "angrily entered" the Root Sports Pittsburgh television booth and accused Pirates announcer Greg Brown "of disparaging him," according to Chris Adamski of the PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW. Brown said that La Russa "'stormed in' just before the end of a commercial break" and Brown had to take him "to the back of the booth away from microphones while color commentator Steve Blass handled duties by himself for a few minutes." Brown said that the encounter "ended with a handshake, and he acknowledged the potential frustration La Russa could have felt" after two D-backs players "were hit in the head" by Pirates P Arquimedes Caminero in a 12-1 loss. Brown did "not mention the exchange on the air Tuesday and said Thursday he wanted to keep it private to protect La Russa" (PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 5/27). In Phoenix, Nick Piecoro noted La Russa went into the Pirates' booth after he "'heard some stuff on the air' that he considered inaccurate about his history with retaliatory pitches during his managerial days." La Russa: "I never have stood for inaccuracies, so I corrected the inaccuracies. ... If you're going to speak untruths then you're going to get challenged and you should be responsible for what you say. I am. I reacted" (AZCENTRAL.com, 5/26).
HIS SIDE OF THE STORY: Brown during Thursday's broadcast of D-backs-Pirates went into further detail about the incident, saying he was "startled when we were about to come back from a commercial break to be standing there alongside" La Russa, who was "really upset with what I had said." Brown: "I took this heated discussion back behind the curtain here so that we would not be in public view. I have always respected Tony La Russa, in fact to the point where I've defended him over the years. ... I was startled that he would leave his General Manager booth in the middle of a ballgame, come in and disrupt the broadcast." Brown originally hoped the incident "would pass.” However, that changed following La Russa making his comments. Brown read the AZCentral.com story on air and said, "Now I react. I didn’t speak any untruths. I spoke completely accurately and I'll stand by every word I said." Brown: "I have had plenty of disagreements over now 23 years as a Pirates broadcaster, before that five years in the minor leagues in Buffalo. ... I've never in all my years ... had anybody come into my place of work during a game to debate or argue" ("D-backs-Pirates," Root Sports Pittsburgh, 5/26).
STAY IN YOUR LANE: YAHOO SPORTS' Kyle Ringo wrote it "seems extremely thin-skinned and amateurish of La Russa to invade the broadcast booth of an opposing team on the road." The broadcasters "work for the Pirates and are free to share their opinions on all things related to the game and the people and personalities on both sides." Brown "could have been much harsher in his assessment of La Russa and his history and how he was perceived in baseball." Brown's comments "weren't intended insults or shots at La Russa" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 5/26).
