"We're not talking about balls and strikes anymore!'

[UmpJM]

I concur with ManInBlue.

The coach WAS talking to his player, not the umpire.

If he says something like, "Keep it there, Jimmy. That was ABSOLUTELY a strike!", THEN he's talking to the umpire.

As described, it sounds like you had a complete redass for an umpire and you were wise to "tread lightly". In my experience, that's really all you can do in that situation. If it's horrible, follow-up with the assignor afterwards.

Or maybe he just had a bad moment and tried to make up for it later by explaining during an inning change.

JM