Perez blows up after loss

The meltdown the Washington Nationals had avoided to date during a season that continues to nose-dive to depths not previously seen in these parts finally came Tuesday night.

It came from left-hander Odalis Perez, who was ejected in the third inning of the Nationals’ 2-0 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks after getting called for a balk twice in the inning and later referred to plate umpire Angel Hernandez as “just stupid, an idiot.”

And it came in lesser terms from manager Manny Acta, who was critical of Hernandez for the balk calls, of Perez for letting his emotions get the best of him and of his offense for failing to score a run off a ripe Brandon Webb.

“Just a little mind-boggling to me that this guy takes the mound for us every five days, and nobody else calls a balk on him, and this guy drops two on him in one night,” Acta said. “But it didn’t make a difference because we didn’t score any runs anyways.”

The Nationals fell to 23 games under .500 for the first time since coming to the District in 2005.

The two balk calls came on consecutive batters. With a man on first and two outs, Hernandez flagged Perez for stepping toward the mound while making a pickoff throw to first.

Perez didn’t like the call but went right back to work. Chris Young singled in the night’s first run, and during the next at-bat, Perez again made the pickoff move to first.

Again, Hernandez called a balk, and this time, Perez immediately jawed at the umpire, said something he shouldn’t have and was ejected.

That only set Perez off more. He walked toward Hernandez and continued to yell, appearing to say: “I’m not going! I’m not going!” Restrained by both Acta and pitching coach Randy St. Claire, Perez kept arguing on his way back to the dugout, firing off one last round of remarks before heading down the steps and to the clubhouse.

“That’s the third or fourth time he called balk on me,” Perez said. “I lost the game twice. It’s like he’s got something personal against me. And I hate that. I’m a professional.”

Perez, who had not had a balk called on him since 2006, indeed was cited at least once before by Hernandez: on June 24, 2003, while pitching for the Dodgers.

“I know I’m going to get fined, but I don’t care,” he said. “I want to protect myself and protect my teammates, too, because he’s been [expletive] the whole year. When people call balk on me, I’ve been doing the same [expletive] move the entire year. So why does he have to call it twice in the same inning?”

Hernandez, through a Nationals spokesman, declined to speak to a pool reporter.

While sympathizing with Perez, Acta would have preferred his starters hadn’t gotten himself ejected.

“Of course I understand his reaction, but where did his emotions get us?” the manager said. “They didn’t erase the balks. They didn’t put a run on the board. Meanwhile, we kill our bullpen. Everybody has a different DNA. I guess not everybody can control their emotions, but that really didn’t help us.”

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