The short replays on ESPN do not do the situation justice and I don't think anyone can judge the situation until they see the whole incident. I just rewatched the game on MLBTV (On Demand) and now I have an entirely new perspective. Milton Bradley got a hit in the 8th. The altercation was not immediate. He appeared to ask the umpire a question. The ump approached Milton and seemed to respond calmly. The ump (Mike Winters) then retreated back to his spot for the next pitch, yet Milton started getting animated as he continued to talk in the direction of the umpire.
The home plate umpire called time and started walking over to first base, at which point Padres manager Bud Black jumped out of the dugout. You can clearly hear him say "Mike, what is going on?" The first base umpire, Mike Winters, shrugs and Black has a short calm conversation with him. Throughout this entire incident, Bradley is still talking (seemingly to himself, but it may be to Helton). At this point first base coach Meacham doesn't look agitated.
As Black returns to the dugout, he has a heated argument with the Home Plate Umpire. At this point, the Home Plate Umpire looks like he is about to lose it. If I could read lips, I could tell you exactly what he said, but it appeared to be hostile based on body language.
The next at bat occurred over 4-5 pitches, as the batter kept fouling balls off. As Bradley returned to the bag each time, the camera followed him. Winters is in plain view for most of the time. Bradley looked angry as he kept talking, although it looked like he might be talking (loudly) to Todd Helton. Helton showed no emotion through the whole thing and didn't seem to respond to Bradley at all.
Through the first 2 pitches, Winters does not say a word while Bradley continues to talk. After the third pitch, Bradley motions to the stands and Winters says something. I can't read his lips, but it definitely started with an "F". (Looked like "Fang on me" to my untrained eye). Maybe he said "Forget it man"?
The fourth pitch, Bradley barely gets a lead because he is busy talking to the ump. He even appears to have his back to home plate when the batter fouls off a pitch. At this point Meacham stands between the two, trying to defuse the situation.
There is never a 5th pitch. Bradley takes his lead, continues to say alot of words that start with the letter "F", motions toward the sstands, and then calls timeout. We've seen the rest. Bradley himself said he motioned to the stands to validate a heckling fan and then the umpire called said something like, "That is ___ng horse___, Bradley. You are a ____ing piece of ____." That is when Bradely supposedly erupted and called for time. A review of the video shows that about 1 second elapses between Bradley's motion to the stands and his call for time out. That doesn't seem like enough time for the ump to say all those words. What he actually said was obviously much shorter and to-the-point.
I know umps are supposed to keep their composure, but Mike Winters took a verbal barrage for almost 2 minutes before Meacham and Bradley took offense to his words. Bradley obviously instigated the argument and continued to press the issue, even as the umpire tried to keep his distance and manage the game.
At least that is how it appears to me after watching this for about the 6th time. After the incident, the coaches and umpires gather. Meacham is in Winters' face, pointing and screaming. He is clearly upset with something the umpire said or did.
I know I don't seem to have the most unbiased eye on this situation (see my blog on the front page), but I really tried to be objective and just report what was shown to the TV audience.