IT’S A MADD MADD WORLD. . .

So far, in his two reigns as MLB’s VP of onfield operations, Joe Torre has been outwardly supportive of the umpires, despite renewed criticism from clubs and players alike about their overall performance. And once again he proved that by meting out a two-game suspension to his own L.A. Dodger protege manager Don Mat

tingly for excessive arguing with Angel Campos, after the home plate umpire had tossed Matt Kemp earlier. Campos first ejected Kemp in the second inning after the Dodgers were complaining about his strike zone from the dugout. After Campos hollered over to them, “That’s enough,” Kemp reportedly yelled “Let’s go Dre” to teammate Andre Ethier, and was promptly tossed by the ump. That brought Mattingly out, furiously objecting to Kemp’s quick toss, and he, too, was then ejected. “The league should look at it,” Mattingly said. “We’re in a pennant race. I’ve got a guy who was second in the MVP (vote) last year. You can’t get thrown out of a game for cheering for your teammate.” When are the umpires going to learn to show restraint, especially in regard to ejections that affect the game? When are the umpires going to understand the players are the game, not them?

Joe Jo Blanton, by the way, was ejected eje by Campos when he was already out of the game — given the heave-ho as he further fu complained about the strike zone after bein being relieved in the fifth. Just asking: Is Dewayne De Wise possibly a better all-around player than Ichiro Suzuki, whom the Yankees replaced him with three weeks ago? In 25 games with the Yankees, Ya Ichiro is hitting .301 with one HR, 11 RBI and a is 3-for-4 in stolen bases. Wise, who was picked picke up by the White Sox, homered in his first two games g for them and has hit .278 in 60 games sinc since Yankee hitting coach Kevin

Long helped him with some adjustments to his swing. He’s also 7-for-7 7-for in stolen bases and had a perfect 2⁄ of an inning of relief for the Yanks.