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ST. PETERSBURG -- For Russell Martin, this one was a first. The Yankees catcher said that he was ejected from Monday's game for having a sense of humor.Martin was tossed by home-plate umpire Paul Schrieber in the fifth inning of New York's 5-2 loss to the Rays after making a crack about a shrinking strike zone.Following Phil Hughes' second walk of the inning, Martin was crouching behind the plate football on tv with his mask on when he said he asked Schrieber, "Did you stretch before the game?"Schreiber walked around to the front of the plate and asked Martin what he said, and Martin said he responded, "I feel like you're kind of tight right now."The words earned Martin his fourth career ejection and first of the season, as manager Joe Girardi sprinted out of the third-base dugout to protest."I like whe football on tv n umpires say, 'If you say anything else, you're gone,'" Girardi said. "It doesn't have to be confrontational."Martin had a bemused look on his face while Girardi pleaded his case, allowing catcher Austin Romine time to strap his gear on to take over the catching duties."I didn't say it in a way that was condescending," Martin said. "I was just trying to loosen things up a little bit because I fel football on tv t like [Schrieber] wasn't really having a good time, so he threw me out." Martin said that Schrieber added that he had an issue with the catcher's actions on the field, including a trip to the mound to settle down Hughes, who admitted he was "kind of losing my cool" at the strike zone."There were, like, two or three [missed calls] to [B.J.] Upton, two to [Evan] Longoria, two to [Ben] Zobrist," Hug football on tv hes said. "I thought I didn't get the memo or something.""He said my antics were tired," Martin said. "He said that [I was] walking to the mound kind of slowly or what I was doing on the bench ... you know, its frustrating when you're not getting calls and that's what happened. So I got thrown out for having a sense of humor."Martin said that he didn't know why Schrieber circled to the front of th football on tv e plate, instead of simply issuing a warning in Martin's ear from behind the dish."When they do that, they just bring attention onto themselves," Martin said. "I kept my mask on my face. Nobody knows what's going on right there except him."If he would have thought about it a couple of seconds more, he probably shouldn't have thrown me out, because he's the one that has to write the report. MLB is football on tv going to have a little chuckle about that." football on tv
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