Joey Votto Faces Questions On Ejection And Outburst

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Joey Votto is celebrating his 32nd birthday with a vow of silence the day after his much publicized ejection and demonstration of displeasure.

"I'm not going to talk about the exchange," Votto said.

"I have not heard from the league and I am in the lineup," Votto said to a comment and a question by a TV reporter on camera.

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Votto stood for the rest of the 58 minute interview with lips firmly sealed at several attempts to rephrase questions about the exchange.

Reds' manager Bryan Price had a little more insight and made some phone calls to get a clarification of the umpires policy on granting and denying time out.

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"I've done some investigation," Price said. "I made some phone calls to get a better understanding of what happened. I'm sure I will hear from the league. The proper thing would be to grant time out. I can see when the pitcher is about to deliver the pitch, the umpire wouldn't grant time but when the pitcher isn't close to delivering the pitch. If he I(the batter) took too long, the umpire can tell him to get in the box and if he didn't signal for the pitcher to put the ball in play. Those are the options. I think (Welke) came to his own conclusion as to why Joey called timeout. It will be real interesting to see how this plays out.”

According to ESPN, who hired a lip reader to view the video, Votto didn't use foul language and in fact said please in his request.

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"When Joey didn't get the time out he called to me," Price said. "Bill (Welke, the home plate umpire) said there was back and forth about ball and strike zone in a previous at bats. He just didn't want to give it."

"Confrontations like this are less common now with replay," Price said. "Where tension finds its way in is with the strike zone."

Balls and strikes are now reviewable for the obvious reason that games would take forever.

Votto was called out on Tuesday to end the game when he tipped a two-strike pitch that catcher Chris Stewart caught. The Reds contended that the foul tip hit the ground before Stewart caught it and replays that the Reds view showed it wasn't a clean catch.  Price was told by Welke, who is the crew chief that the play is not reviewable.