Nobody involved in the heated dugout argument that happened during yesterday's game said specifically what the cause of the discontent was, but Armando Galarraga did talk about the incident and called the whole thing a "misunderstanding."
"It was just a misunderstanding. That's it," Galarraga said. "You always try to make your [game] plan, but sometimes the plan's not the right way. It's a misunderstanding."
Based on that, you would think the argument with Alex Avila had something to do with how he was calling Galarraga's pitches, but Avila says there was more to it than that.
"It was a big deal at the moment, but it kind of got out of hand for a second," Avila said. "It was just a little blown out of proportion. It was just on what we wanted to do to some guys and going through the game plan. It was just a heated conversation.
"It was a little surprising, probably a little out of character for both of us. But then, we were trying to get things right. It just got more out of hand than what either of us would've wanted." [...]
"It wasn't just about the pitches," Avila said.
As for Gerald Laird's involvement in the disagreement, he was simply sticking up for a fellow catcher when Galarraga got in Avila's face.
"It was getting a little heated, and I just wanted to get in there," Laird said. "I got both my teammates in there. Alex is a young guy at the position that I play. I know what he's going through back there, and it's tough when you come in and [someone] like that gets in your face. He was doing a good job of just taking it.
"I just thought enough was going on, and I tried to get in between to kind of calm things down. I think Galarraga kind of took it the wrong way, and maybe I said something I shouldn't have said. But the kid's young. He's only got a year in the big leagues. He's still learning. For [Galarraga] to come in and try to embarrass him in front of his teammates like that, I just didn't think that was the right time to do it."
Although the so-called misunderstanding certainly looked like a sign of bigger issues, Jim Leyland didn't seem too concerned at all about what happened. In fact, he even approved of the shouting match.
"Well, when you're a pitcher and a catcher, every now and then you get your signals crossed," joked manager Jim Leyland, who didn't take issue with the altercation. [...]
"I like it," he said.
Whatever happened, it didn't negatively affect the Tigers too much, because they went on to beat the White Sox on Sunday for their first series win since the All-Star break.