The Washington Nationals haven’t been much of a draw at the ticket office this season. They’re sitting at last place in the National League East and just edging out the Rockies at the bottom of the entire National League.
When you take that and add a one-off make-up game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on a Thursday afternoon, you’re not going to find much of a crowd at Nationals Park. That made for quite the exchange between home plate umpire Doug Eddings and the Diamondbacks dugout. He wanted to remind the D-backs that he could hear *everything* thanks to the sparse crowd.
"Remember, there's not a lot of fans here and I can hear everything you're saying."
🔊 Home plate umpire Doug Eddings gave a friendly reminder to the D-backs dugout 😂 pic.twitter.com/PrcypkMTh5
— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) June 22, 2023
With Lane Thomas at the plate in the first inning, mics clearly picked up Eddings saying, “Remember, there’s not a lot of fans here, and I can hear everything you’re saying.”
You could even see Thomas laughing about the comment because, well, it was true. There weren’t many fans there, so Eddings wanted to give the D-backs a friendly warning about complaining over calls.
You know your team is down bad, though, when an umpire comments on the crowd.