Turns out that Phillip Wellman -- the minor league manager who threw that bizarre, belly-crawling tantrum after getting tossed from a game last week -- was on the staff of Dodgers Manager Grady Little in Class-A ball in Durham, N.C.
Yes, Little caught the video of Wellman's drawn-out antics, replayed countless times last weekend. "How are you going to miss it?" Little told Times staff writer Ben Bolch.
Little was ejected from a game himself Sunday in Pittsburgh, shortly after some of the Dodgers watched the replay of Wellman's Friday night meltdown on a TV in the clubhouse before the game.
Little was no match for his protege, who drew in dirt over home plate, threw a base and then crawled, military-style, in the infield before tossing a rosin bag toward an umpire as if it were a grenade.
"That's what I was looking for," the Dodgers' Nomar Garciaparra said with a smile. "I was a little disappointed in Grady that he didn't do that."
Little said Wellman never did anything like that when they worked together, but "evidently he had a lot of frustration built up inside him," even though the actions looked "pretty well thought-out."
The three-game suspension the Atlanta Braves gave to the manager of the double-A Mississippi Braves wasn't much of a surprise. It could have been worse.
"I'm glad that grenade didn't hit the guy in the foot," Little said.
By the way, Wellman apparently picked up a thing or two from Little, Cincinnati Reds Manager Jerry Narron told the Cincinnati Post.
Turns out Wellman does impressions. "He can do Grady Little better than Grady Little," Narron said.
Trivia time
Each year, the names of the players, coaches and management of the NHL champions are inscribed on the Stanley Cup.
What does the inscription say for 2004-05?
Feminine allure
Saturday's Belmont Stakes doesn't have Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, who was beaten in the Preakness.
But the final leg of the Triple Crown gained intrigue when trainer Todd Pletcher entered the filly Rags To Riches. Only two fillies ever have won the race, and the most recent was Tanya, in 1905. Ruthless won the first Belmont Stakes, in 1867.
"It's a tall order," said Southern California trainer Bob Baffert, whose filly Silverbulletday was seventh in the 1999 Belmont.
"At least it makes the race interesting," Baffert told the Daily Racing Form. "I was going to watch the [horse vs. man] match race at River Downs. Now that the filly's running, I'm going to watch the Belmont."
