Tony Vitello oddly alludes to pair of intense behind the scenes moments for SF Giants

The SF Giants are off to a rough start and new manager Tony Vitello has to be feeling the heat. He made some interesting comments prior to Monday’s loss against the Philadelphia Phillies in which he alluded to two somewhat intense moments behind the scenes for the team that were similar to the moment when Matt Chapman called out Casey Schmitt in San Diego using some colorful language.

Vitello was asked by reporters about Chapman’s recent struggles and whether they stem from that incident but he disagreed with that and said the following:

“I thought, a couple things we were able to keep from you guys, but if you lump those two and the one you’re referencing…we’ve really only had three things that have been, I don’t want to say ‘controversial’ because that’s a mislabel, but kind of some intensity back and forth a little bit. We’ve played our best three games following that.”

Tony Vitello speaks on behind the scenes SF Giants moments

Vitello was asked to clarify those two other moments he alluded to in his first response later in the presser and he said the following: 

“Yeah, nothing big. And like, minor. And at the end of the day too [Chapman’s exchange on the mound with Schmitt] is minor but it’s a cuss word involved so it’s something for you guys to talk about.”

Really, it just seems like the team had some moments behind the scenes in which players held each other accountable. That is how one could very charitably describe the moment between Chapman and Schmitt and Vitello’s point seems to be that those moments have led to some of the team’s best baseball.

Maybe that’s what Vitello was going for when he got tossed from his first big league game on Sunday for arguing a call but it did not produce a good result as the bullpen blew a 2-1 lead and the Giants lost the game.

We don’t know exactly what happened behind the scenes that Vitello referred to, but there is nothing wrong with teammates holding one another to account especially when things are going the wrong direction. It would actually be worse if it seemed like players didn’t care and the attitude was too relaxed.

Sometimes Vitello has a habit of talking himself into trouble, though. While an answer like that is good for content creators and journalists, does he really need to bring up the fact that the team has had these behind the scenes moments that only lead to more speculation? Isn’t the point of them that they happened out of public view where it was only the team involved? 

Perhaps that is just his personality, but maybe it also gives some insight into how the Giants can dig their way out of the 3-8 hole they find themselves in. They shouldn’t be cussing each other out whenever something goes wrong, but if a guy doesn’t run hard going down to first base or someone isn’t backing up a throw or there are baserunning mistakes like the one Chapman made on Sunday then it should be talked about and brought up. Not to embarrass anyone or put anyone down but to set a standard.

No one in that locker room is above accountability so maybe the Giants do need a little bit more of that if they are going to get things turned around and start to look like a competent big league team.