Washington Nationals manager Davey Martinez was none too pleased by St. Louis Cardinals broadcast cameras picking up Stephen Strasburg grabbing his shoulder in between innings.
Strasburg labored through four innings Tuesday against the Cardinals. He was hooked in the fifth inning after loading the bases with no outs. His night ended allowing three home runs, eight runs, eight hits and five walks which tied his career-high for walks. Something seemed completely off for Strasburg during the dreadful outing.
Martinez contends Strasburg’s struggles were more mechanical than anything ailing the right-handed hurler. But, following the 14-3 loss, the skipper expressed his ire for TV cameras picking up Strasburg in the tunnel behind the visitor’s dugout rubbing his shoulder/neck area.
“Honestly, that should shouldn’t have been shown, so I’m a little perturbed about that, that camera is not supposed to be down in that tunnel,” Martinez said per Federal Baseball.
Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports explained the home team, which was the Cardinals in the game, are responsible for camera shots throughout the game this season per MLB COVID-19 protocols. MASN, who is the Nationals’ regional broadcaster, is subjected to the Cardinals camera crew.
An adamant Martinez said the camera was not supposed to be in that area.
“That it shouldn’t be there. Honestly. There’s rules and regulations about that. It’s not supposed to go down in the tunnel. It’s not. So, I mean, it’s in black and white,” Martinez added.
Strasburg says he just couldn’t get his fastball going. His velocity dropped to the low 90s at one point hit 89 miles per hour. By the fourth inning, he was relegated to throwing his curve.
Strasburg also expressed his objection to being filmed in the tunnel, calling it “a joke.”
“There’s got to be some kind of safe place in the stadium,” Strasburg said per Maria Torres of the Athletic. “I’m 32 years old, I’ve been doing this a long time. And there’s plenty of other starts where’s something’s not feeling right and whether you treat yourself or have a trainer come treat you it’s just part of the business.
“I went out there and I gave it everything I had. It wasn’t good enough tonight. There should be some sort of privacy. People don’t watch the games on TV to watch some sort of spy camera watching what the player is doing in the tunnel.”
