Ump Shows Lou How It Is

The umpires’ get-tough policy got off to a quick-tempered start Tuesday.

Seattle manager Lou Piniella was ejected in the eighth inning of the Mariners’ 14-13 exhibition victory over Milwaukee at Chandler, Ariz., - simply for asking second-base umpire Ted Hendry to quit chatting with young shortstop Andy Sheets.

“I told him, ‘Leave him alone. Let him concentrate,”’ Piniella said. “He (Hendry) thought I was getting on him.”

Major league umpires, still seething over the Roberto Alomar spitting incident, announced Monday that they don’t plan to take any guff from players or managers this season.

“That’s exactly what Hendry told me, that they were going to be tougher,” Piniella said after the rare spring ejection.

Hendry left the ballpark without speaking to reporters, but Brewers manager Phil Garner supported Piniella’s side of the story.

“Lou said, ‘Don’t talk to my shortstop, let him concentrate,’ and Ted said, ‘You’re outta here,” Garner said. “There was no cursing, no nothing. It had nothing to do with an argument or with a play. We couldn’t believe it. He didn’t do anything.”

“So, that’s the way it’s going to be,” Garner added.

Pinch-hitter Brian Raabe’s sacrifice fly off loser Jason Burgos (0-1) capped the Mariners’ eight-run eighth-inning rally that erased Milwaukee’s 13-6 advantage.

Lee Tinsley hit a three-run homer for Seattle, and Russ Davis and Chris Sabo each had two-run shots.

M’s said discussing Irabu

Hideki Irabu’s agent says teams shouldn’t bother trading for rights to his client - unless the team is the New York Yankees.

Irabu, the Japanese pitcher whose rights were awarded last week to San Diego, has refused to negotiate with the Padres. San Diego is said to be discussing a possible trade with Seattle, but agent Don Nomura said Irabu would refuse to sign with the Mariners.

Fox should get nod

Nellie Fox, who finished two votes shy of induction in 1985, is expected to be named as the baseball Hall of Fame’s 175th former major league player when the Veterans Committee announces its decision today.

Fox, a second baseman, died in 1975 from cancer at age 45.

Fox was a 12-time All-Star who batted over .300 six times and .288 during a 19-year career - 14 with the Chicago White Sox.

Campanis hospitalized

Former Dodgers executive Al Campanis, 80, was hospitalized Monday in Fullerton, Calif., for an undisclosed condition. The Dodgers said Campanis was expected to be released in several days.

Gregg downsizes

In the last year, Eric Gregg added one vice - Dominican cigars - and subtracted about 100 pounds.

“The doctor said, ‘Eric, the way you were eating and drinking, if 400 pounds didn’t kill you, one cigar isn’t going to do it,” the National League umpire said.

Gregg can joke again about his weight now, but it was a deadly serious topic last year after good friend and fellow umpire John McSherry died of a massive heart attack on opening day.

Gregg said he weighed about 399 pounds last year when McSherry died. When he got on the scale Tuesday, he said he weighed 298.

The weight-loss process began April 15, when Gregg announced that he was taking a leave of absence from his umpiring chores to go into a professional reduction program.

He went to Duke University, where doctors put him on a diet of 1,800 calories a day and instituted an exercise program that had Gregg walking eight miles every morning.

Linton released

The Kansas City Royals have given pitcher Doug Linton his unconditional release.

Linton, 31, has been bothered by a small ligament tear in his right elbow and is expected to have surgery soon. Linton was the Royals’ fifth starter last year until he injured his elbow.