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TUCSON, Ariz. -- In one of the more unusual twists of the spring, Mariners pitcher Cliff Lee was ejected from a Cactus League game Monday against Arizona.As Diamondbacks' batter Chris Snyder made a slow approach to Lee on the mound in the bottom of the third after seeing a couple of Lee's offerings come a little too high and a little too tight, both dugouts and both benches emptied, although all that happened after that was mass mingling.
In the first inning, Lee was trying to back up home plate when Snyder, at that point the Arizona on-deck batter, got tangled with him and Lee fell to the ground. Lee said the first incident had nothing to do with the second.
"I was trying to go inside with a couple of pitches,'' Lee said, "and the guy got mad.''
Umpire Brian Knight wasted no time in throwing Lee out of the game, although Snyder was allowed to remain.
"I wasn't sending a message pitch,'' Lee said. "I had one more out and one more inning to go. A couple of pitches just got too far in. I don't know what happened.
"He threw a ball at my head. ... It was close, man.
-- Arizona catcher Chris Snyder "It's really not a big deal to me. Maybe to him it was to him.''
Snyder said he "got caught up in the moment,'' but at the same time he said he wasn't about to back down.
"He threw a ball at my head,'' Snyder said. "Stand in there and have somebody throw a ball at your head. He went in on the first pitch and the next one was at my head. It was close, man.''
Snyder said he saw no point to a pitcher throwing at a hitter in spring training.
"I don't see a reason for it,'' the catcher said. "It's spring training. Guys are going out there to get their work in, get their repetitions and get ready for the season. There's no time to start throwing balls at people clearing the benches. There's no time for that in spring training.''
Snyder said that Lee ran into him on the play near the plate, but that had nothing to do with his charging the mound.
"I didn't see a problem. Like I said, [it was] two guys going to where they need to be,'' he said. "Then we collided. Hell, he got me good. He Charlie-horsed my leg. I still feel it. He almost clipped me twice. Got my leg. It hurt every time I squat. Then he threw a ball at my head. He's up two-nothing on me.''Lee's ejection -- he said it was a spring training first for him -- came after he'd thrown 46 pitches on what was supposed to be a 60-pitch day. He wound up throwing another 15 pitches on one of the back fields at Tucson Electric Park to get to his quota.
All in all, it wasn't a good day for Lee, who gave up six hits and was charged with four runs in 2 2/3 innings of a game in which the Mariners would get blown out.
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