It wouldn’t be a successful season if we didn’t see a telecast-worthy meltdown from Joe Mikulik, and the longtime MiLB skipper didn’t disappoint Sunday.
Mikulik made a name for himself after a few epic meltdowns were captured by TV cameras (you can see previous ones here and here). The first two were done when he managed the Asheville Tourists (Low Class A; Sally League); he’s now managing the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (High Class A; Carolina League), and in Sunday’s game against the Salem Red Sox, he was in fine form while challenging an umpire’s call against his team.
The game was not going well for the Pelicans — they would lose 9-1 — and a call at the plate from umpire Adam Beck set Mikulik in motion. Take a look: Mikulik had the courtesy to recreate the missed call for Beck not once, but twice, and then started taking off his jersey to punctuate his point, leaving it and his shoes on home plate. As Mikulik outbursts go, this once was actually mild: no bases were uprooted, and Mikulik didn’t take to a belly crawl across the infield. Anyway, just watch:
A little venting is good for the soul. Beck probably didn’t enjoy it, and he probably shouldn’t take the outburst personally: every once in a while, a person like Mikulik needs to let off a little steam. Yes, we’ll see the obligatory fine from MiLB as well as some sort of suspension.
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