Tag: Bad umps

Umpire Chris Guccione admitted he was having a terrible night in a fascinating breakdown video

This was so good.

Last week, the Mariners had one of the wilder wins we’ll see this season when they rallied from four runs down against the White Sox and ultimately won with a Cal Raleigh walk-off grand slam.

And to be honest, Raleigh easily could have been ejected an inning earlier.

In a great breakdown video from Jomboy Media, we saw (and heard!) as both Raleigh and manager Scott Servais took exception with umpire Chris Guccione’s strike zone. Raleigh was upset with Guccione punching him out on a pitch the Mariners hadn’t gotten all night. When Servais came onto the field to protect his player, that was when we could see Guccione admitting that he does have bad nights and that he was just trying his best.

Props to the lip-reading skills from Jomboy. (Warning: Strong language in the video)

The best part had to be that Guccione told Servais that he was up at 3:30 that morning as if the Mariners manager was going to be understanding of the excuse. Servais was tossed for the argument, but Raleigh was surprisingly allowed to stay in the game.

Fans absolutely enjoyed this latest breakdown video. It was elite work all the way.

This was how Twitter/X reacted

Mets pitcher Jorge López furiously tossed his glove into the stands after getting ejected in 8th-inning meltdown

The Mets are a MESS.

There isn’t a team that can manage to find a new low quite like the Mets. They can make a late-game meltdown look like an art form, and that was certainly the case on Wednesday afternoon.

After dropping the first two games of their series with the Dodgers, the Mets went into the eighth inning tied at 3-3. Reliever Adam Ottavino struggled, allowing two runs, and he was replaced by Jorge López. That was when everything really fell apart for the Mets.

The Dodgers added four more runs in the inning, which included a two-run shot from Shohei Ohtani. López was understandably frustrated with the outing, but that seemed to carry over into a conversation with third base umpire Ramon De Jesus. In the middle of Freddie Freeman’s at-bat, De Jesus ejected López from the game.

At that point, López was so heated that he tossed his glove over the netting and into the stands before heading to the clubhouse.

It was unclear why López was upset with De Jesus as the umpire actually saved López from a throwing error earlier in the inning. But something was clearly said that got De Jesus — who is notoriously quick to eject players/managers — to toss López in the middle of an at-bat.

If that sequence doesn’t sum up the Mets’ season, I don’t know what does.

A college baseball player was ridiculously ejected for a bat flip after game-tying grand slam

This was an absurd ejection by the umpire after a hype moment.

Hitting a game-tying grand slam is an event that should be cause for massive celebration. According to one college baseball umpire, however, it lead to an ejection instead.

On Sunday, Grand Canyon was playing Nebraska to close out their early-season series against one another. Nebraska won two of three games played, with Grand Canyon looking to tie the series Sunday afternoon. However, Grand Canyon was down 8-4 entering the bottom of the fifth and needed a big offensive half inning to get back into it.

With the bases loaded and no outs, Tyler Wilson delivered for Grand Canyon with a towering shot to right field for a game-tying grand slam. However, as Wilson approached home plate, the umpire motioned his way and suddenly ejected him. Why? Because Wilson threw his bat in the air after the ball cleared the outfield fence.

That’s a pretty innocuous bat flip, all things considered. Wilson didn’t even break stride or trot as he did it!

It’s still early in the baseball calendar but add this one to the bad umpires tally.

MLB fans were in disbelief after umpire Edwin Moscoso gifted Austin Riley a walk despite 5 straight strikes

So many missed calls in ONE at-bat …

The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies had themselves yet another rollercoaster game on Tuesday. Atlanta jumped to a 6-1 lead before the Phillies tied it in the ninth with the Braves ultimately winning in extra innings.

But it was also a night that saw home plate umpire Edwin Moscoso miss some big calls in crucial spots. The rookie umpire showed signs of trouble early in the game, particularly with Braves third baseman Austin Riley at the plate.

Facing Zach Wheeler in the first inning, Riley worked a walk in an eight-pitch at-bat despite the first five pitches being strikes. Out of the eight pitches, seven were either strikes or foul balls. Yet, Moscoso gifted Riley with a walk.

Even Riley seemed a bit surprised by some of those calls, and Wheeler was visibly frustrated with that strike zone. Again, only one taken pitch missed the zone in the entire at-bat.

In all, it wasn’t a great performance for Moscoso who also missed a would-be strikeout call in the 10th inning before Eddie Rosario’s go-ahead hit.

The Riley at-bat, though, had MLB fans stunned.

MLB fans crushed umpire C.B. Bucknor after he ended a one-run game on a blatant missed call

This embarrassment needs to end.

Just this past weekend, MLB fans were in disbelief as longtime umpire C.B. Bucknor lost control of a game between the Rays and Guardians.

He didn’t exactly have himself a bounce-back performance on Wednesday.

Bucknor — who is among baseball’s least accurate umpires this season — was behind the plate for the Brewers’ game against the Pirates. The game saw the Pirates overcome a three-run deficit to take a 5-4 lead into the ninth. With the tying run on first and William Contreras at the plate with a full count in the ninth, it seemed like Bucknor just wanted to go home.

He called this pitch a strike:

You always want to protect the plate if it’s close with a full count, but it would be awfully difficult to blame Contreras for taking that pitch. It wasn’t close at all. And yet, Bucknor called the pitch a game-ending strike despite it crossing over the left-handed batter’s box. Oddly enough, this was the second straight game where Bucknor expanded the zone for right-handed batters.

Brewers fans were justifiably upset to see the game end like that. They should’ve had the tying run on second base. Instead, it was game over.

Umpire C.B. Bucknor forgot to restart the pitch clock and lost track of the count in an awful night

This can’t continue.

C.B. Bucknor is one of those umpires who players hate to see working behind the plate. They know to expect a wildly inconsistent strike zone, and on top of that, Bucknor struggles with even the most basic umpiring duties.

That kind of incompetence can send a game off the rails, and Saturday’s matchup between the Rays and Guardians was a prime example of that. It was an all-around terrible night for Bucknor.

In addition to calling balls and strikes, the home plate umpire is tasked with enforcing the pitch clock. But in the bottom of the fifth inning, the pitch clock didn’t restart. Of course, Bucknor didn’t notice that.

Now, instead of calling the violation on the batter Andres Gimenez who wasn’t alert to the pitcher at the 8-second mark, Bucknor called the pitch clock violation on the Rays. When Rays manager Kevin Cash tried to argue that the pitch clock wasn’t reset for that pitch, Bucknor didn’t confer with the rest of the crew. Instead he argued with Cash and ultimately ejected the Rays manager.

That lack of concentration from Bucknor would continue in the following inning when he lost track of the count and rung up Bo Naylor on a 2-1 pitch.

It was Naylor who had to inform Bucknor that the pitch was just the second strike. Like, how is this happening in a big-league game? It’s unacceptable.

Bucknor’s overall accuracy was atrocious too as he spent much of the night calling strikes on pitches around the left-handed batter’s box.

This scorecard is hilarious:

How does that even happen? We already know that MLB does almost nothing to hold umpires accountable after poor performances, but Bucknor’s night was dreadful in every facet. You can’t blame MLB fans for wanting to see something done about that.

MLB fans loved what Adley Rutschman told Shintaro Fujinami after a missed call ended the game

Find a teammate like Adley Rutschman.

The Baltimore Orioles have the American League’s best record, and they cruised to an easy win on Monday night against the White Sox. But you have to appreciate the honesty from Orioles reliever Shintaro Fujinami.

He knew they won the game on a generous call.

With the Orioles up by nine runs in the ninth inning, Fujinami got two quick outs and went ahead 0-2 against pinch hitter Trayce Thompson. That was when Fujinami went with an 85 mph sweeper just off the plate outside, but home plate umpire Ron Kulpa rung up Thompson on strikes to end the game.

The pitch looked outside enough to have Fujinami asking catcher Adley Rutschman if it was actually a strike.

I mean, that exchange was so wholesome.

Fujinami seemed convinced that the pitch was outside (it was), but Rutschman appeared to say something like, “No, it was beautiful.” To be fair, it was a nice pitch, and you can’t really blame Kulpa for calling the pitch a strike in that situation (0-2 count, two outs in the ninth of a 9-0 game). It was a “let’s go home” kind of call.

Fans enjoyed that postgame conversation as well. Every pitcher needs a supportive teammate like Rutschman. He wanted Fujinami to focus on the great pitch and not the call.

An umpire actually got ejected after a heated argument with a player in a Frontier League game

That’s certainly a new one.

We’ve seen some absolutely wild ejections in independent baseball leagues over the years, but Sunday’s Frontier League game between the New York Boulders and Tri-City ValleyCats might’ve had itself a baseball first:

An umpire was ejected.

According to The Times Union, first base umpire Warren Nicholson was removed from the game in the first inning after a fiery argument with Boulders second baseman Tucker Nathans. The entire altercation started when the Tri-City dugout accused the Boulders of illegally using outfield cameras to steal signs. Nicholson apparently told the Boulders dugout to remove the league-permitted tablets from their bench area, and that set Nathans off in an argument.

Nathans was ejected, and at one point, Nicholson made contact with the New York player, which led to the umpire getting ejected as well.

The Braves broadcast took a hilarious jab at Angel Hernandez after a missed call behind the plate

What strike zone?

Longtime MLB umpire Angel Hernandez missed much of this season after dealing with a medical matter. But since his return in late July, he’s somehow gotten worse behind the plate.

Sunday’s game was no exception.

Hernandez was working home plate for the final game of the Braves’ series with the Giants, and it quickly became apparent to both pitching staffs that Hernandez was calling any pitch somewhat near the outside corner as a strike. It led to some ridiculous missed calls on the afternoon, but you have to appreciate how Braves play-by-play announcer Brandon Gaudin called the expanded strike zone in the moment.

“As Fried fires a strike near the outside corner,” he said.

That was how Hernandez’s day pretty much went as he was consistently calling that outside pitch a strike.

And honestly, it seemed much worse than the scorecard saw it.

MLB fans also had thoughts on Hernandez’s performance behind the plate.

Harrison Bader was certain he struck out before the ump called ball on a pitch down the middle

Nobody was more surprised than Bader.

At every level of baseball, hitters are told to let the umpires make the call. You never want to make an assumption on a would-be ball 4 and have an umpire take it personally, ruling the pitch a strike.

But you almost never see the reverse happen with an apparent strikeout going the other way.

During the second inning of Sunday’s game between the Red Sox and Yankees, center fielder Harrison Bader was convinced that Nick Pivetta’s 0-2 fastball caught the zone. And well, he was correct. The pitch was right down the middle, but home plate umpire Junior Valentine saw it differently. He called the pitch a ball as Bader was already making his walk back to the dugout.

Hey, at least Bader was being honest. But man, what a rough call from Valentine.

Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire made the call more difficult than it needed to be by setting up high and reaching down to catch the ball without much of a frame. Yet, a big-league umpire still should have been able to see a fastball down the middle like that.

The missed call didn’t make a difference as Bader struck out swinging a couple pitches later. Still, fans thought the reaction was hilarious. Bader was just so surprised about the call.