Toronto ? Steve Palermo of the commissioner’s office warned umpires working Tampa Bay-Toronto games to watch for beanballs, leading to the ejections of Blue Jays starters Roy Halladay and Josh Towers on consecutive nights.

June 6 last season, Tampa Bay’s Aubrey Huff was hit on the helmet by Toronto’s Luke Prokopec after hitting a home run in his previous at-bat.

Halladay, a leading contender for the AL Cy Young Award, was ejected in the sixth inning Monday night after hitting Devil Rays rookie Rocco Baldelli with a pitch.

Towers was ejected for throwing behind Huff in the fifth inning Tuesday.

“It stems from last year,” Palermo, a supervisor of major league umpires, said Tuesday. “Aubrey Huff got hit in the head last year. We take that seriously. Aubrey Huff’s wife takes that seriously. What if he was laid up in a hospital with a concussion?”

After allowing a home run to Julio Lugo and a single to Huff, Halladay hit Baldelli with his first pitch. Plate umpire Phil Cuzzi ejected Halladay, who put up his arms in disbelief.

Palermo thought Halladay threw at Baldelli on purpose, even though Baldelli said he didn’t think Halladay did it intentionally.

“I think I can convict Roy Halladay. There is outstanding evidence,” said Palermo, a former AL umpire. “If he was just wild it was a real bad time. He supposedly has pinpoint control, so how does he hit a guy two batters after a guy hits a home run and then the next guy hits a sharp single and then on the very next pitch he hits him?”

Halladay (21-7) and Toronto manager Carlos Tosca argued with Cuzzi for several minutes as fans booed. The right-hander also hit Damian Rolls with a pitch in the fourth.

Halladay entered with a 3.18 ERA. He left trailing 1-0 and ended up taking the loss and being charged with three earned runs.

“It was definitely an injustice,” said Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi, who said he was trying to get in touch with Palermo to see why the warning was issued. “There’s no bad blood between the two clubs, so why the warning was issued is real perplexing to us.”

Ricciardi believes the ejection and the subsequent loss shouldn’t hurt Halladay’s chances of winning the Cy Young Award.

“Whether he won that game or lost that game, he’s still the Cy Young Award winner,” Ricciardi said.

Halladay, who didn’t know about the warning, denied throwing at Baldelli and players on both teams denied there was bad blood between the teams.

Cuzzi declined to comment after the game.

After last year’s game June 6, former Tampa Bay manager Hal McRae was furious.

“Prokopec is a bush individual,” McRae said. “Anytime you throw at a guy’s head, that’s bush league. It’s one thing to plant someone in the ribs.”

Halladay’s ejection wasn’t the first trouble between the teams this month.

Tosca wrote a quote from Crawford on a clubhouse message board before a game Sept. 10. After Tampa Bay’s win Sept. 9 Crawford said it seemed that when the Blue Jays get behind “they kind of let down a little bit.”