Tag: Bad umps

Angel Hernandez managed to mess up first play of the Mets-Marlins game with a nonsensical call

No other ump would EVER make that call.

When it comes to over-thinking as an umpire, Angel Hernandez really can’t help himself. He can take a simple play and send an entire game off the rails by inserting himself into the action.

On Sunday, he only needed one play for that to happen.

In the first inning of the Mets’ game against the Marlins, Brandon Nimmo appeared to get things started with a lead-off triple to the left-center gap. The ball rolled to the wall and came to a stop under the wall’s padding. Now, if the ball is lodged in the padding, the fielders are told to signal an “out of play” to the umpires by holding up their arms. Neither Jerar Encarnacion nor JJ Bleday did that here.

Bleday immediately reached for the ball, picked it up with no problem and threw towards third.

Hernandez — the furthest umpire from the play at home — called the play dead as a ground-rule double. Hernandez might have viewed Encarnacion pointing to third as some sort of “out of play” signal, but that really wasn’t what happened at all.

The Mets should have had a lead-off triple, but they had to settle for a double because Hernandez felt the need to make a call that no other umpire would make in that situation.

No wonder MLB fans were not impressed with the embattled umpire.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol explained what really caused his fiery exchange with umpire C.B. Bucknor

You could tell the ump LOVED it.

The St. Louis Cardinals had plenty to be happy about when they left Arizona this weekend. They swept the Diamondbacks while riding a seven-game winning streak. Chase Field looked like Busch Stadium. And they’re starting to pull away in the NL Central standings as Albert Pujols chases 700 home runs. 

But … Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol did have one issue with the otherwise successful weekend, and that came courtesy of umpire C.B. Bucknor.

Marmol was ejected in the third inning on Sunday when Bucknor called a first-pitch strike on an obvious inside pitch to Nolan Arenado. The reaction from Arenado said it all, but the fireworks really sparked when Marmol got tossed for complaining about the call. That led to the two shouting at each other from *very* close range.

Marmol definitely got his money’s worth, but Bucknor didn’t exactly try to back down either. The umpire was just as animated as Marmol, which was a bit odd considering Bucknor was the one who missed the call.

After the game, Marmol said what really set him off in the whole exchange was Bucknor’s behavior. According to the Cardinals manager, he took issue with Bucknor’s smirk and how the ump apparently questioned his time in the league.

Though Bucknor doesn’t receive attention at Angel Herndandez’s level, baseball players often name Bucknor among their least favorite umpires. In fact, out of umpires who have worked at least 15 games behind the plate this season, Bucknor is dead last in accuracy at 91.3 percent.

When you combine that poor performance with zero umpire accountability, Marmol’s frustration makes sense.

Aaron Boone lost it on the umpire after Giancarlo Stanton struck out on 3 incorrectly called strikes

Three missed calls in ONE at-bat.

The New York Yankees don’t lose very often, but if there’s one thing that gets the entire team frustrated, it’s bad umpiring. We saw that in Sunday’s game against the Red Sox.

With the Yankees down a run in the seventh inning and Giancarlo Stanton at the plate, the Yankees slugger was called out on strikes despite all three “strikes” missing the zone. As the inning came to close on the called third strike, Stanton stood there in disbelief. And that was when Yankees manager Aaron Boone got in on the action.

The ESPN broadcast showed Boone as he was shouting from the dugout, telling home plate umpire Tripp Gibson that he had just missed six calls.

Boone was almost immediately ejected for arguing balls and strikes, but as you can see, he had reason to be upset.

According to Umpire Scorecards, Gibson missed 15 calls on the night and posted an 82 percent called-strike accuracy. That’s not going to get it done, and no wonder MLB fans understood Boone’s outburst there.

The Giants were justifiably upset after an apparent inning-ending grounder was called foul

The Reds scored FIVE runs after that.

The San Francisco Giants are going to look back at Sunday’s loss to the Reds and wonder what could have been with that third-inning grounder.

With the Reds already up a couple runs in the third, Joey Votto hit a chopping grounder down the first-base line that Brandon Belt calmly fielded and stepped on first. It seemed simple enough in real time — an inning-ending groundout to first base. But first base umpire Gabe Morales gave Votto new life with a foul call.

It was initially unclear what Morales was seeing, but he appeared to rule that Belt’s glove was in foul territory when he fielded the ball in front of the bag.

While it was tough to definitively tell from the replay angles provided, it did look like Belt fielded the ball in fair territory and swung his glove towards the line *after* already fielding the ball. By that, it should have been a fair ball and an out. The terribly flawed MLB replay rules don’t allow for fair-foul reviews in the infield, so the Giants were stuck with the ruling.

Votto and the Reds would take advantage of the fortunate call and tack on five more runs in the inning. The Reds won, 10-3, and as you could expect, Giants fans were not pleased with Morales there.

Mics picked up so much of Javy Baez’s expletive-riddled argument with ump before getting ejected

He was heated.

We’re still early into the 2022 MLB season, and it’s already seeming like players have lost patience with umpires. It’s gotten to the point where even borderline calls are leading to blowups between players and umpires.

That’s exactly what happened on Monday night with Javy Baez, and we were able to hear what happened thanks to some hyper-sensitive microphones.

Baez was called out on strikes in the ninth inning against the Oakland A’s, and he immediately turned to home plate umpire Nick Mahrley to voice his displeasure. And while it appeared that Mahrley’s strike call was borderline, Baez was furious and went off on an F-bomb-filled tirade. (Warning: NSFW language).

Honestly, if MLB won’t give us robot umps, I’d happily accept on-field microphones like that. That was just compelling TV.

Overall, though, Mahrley had a decent night behind the plate. He missed a call earlier in the game with Baez at the plate, which could have played a part in the ninth-inning outburst.

Both Baez and manager A.J. Hinch were ejected for the argument. The A’s won, 2-0, and MLB fans had thoughts on the whole ordeal.

Marcel Ozuna struck out looking on three straight balls and MLB fans had seen enough

Robot umps please.

Every season, it seems like umpiring across Major League Baseball is getting worse. And yet, the powers at be have no plans to do anything about it in the near future.

While an automated strike zone is getting tested at various levels of the minor leagues, it was not included among the possible rule changes in the new CBA. On top of that, we learned that Major League umpires are evaluated on such a lenient scale that they even have Angel Hernandez scoring a 96 percent.

But something really has to change because a sequence like Wednesday’s Marcel Ozuna at-bat simply cannot happen.

Facing Tylor Megill in the fourth inning, Ozuna struck out on three pitches. The Braves left fielder didn’t swing at any of those pitches because, well, all three pitches were out of the strike zone. Basically, home plate umpire Brian O’Nora called Ozuna out on what was three consecutive balls.

Of course, umpires don’t like it when players argue calls mid-at-bat, but O’Nora didn’t do Ozuna any favors there at all. To make it worse, MLB will probably see those calls as correct given the two-inch buffer zone.

MLB fans had plenty to say about the botched umpiring.

Mariners rookie Julio Rodriguez is being set up to fail thanks to absolutely inexcusable umpiring

It’s getting ridiculous at this point.

You really have to feel for Mariners rookie Julio Rodriguez. His first season in the big leagues is off to a rocky start, and honestly, it’s not all his fault.

The 21-year-old Rodriguez is hitting .188 on the season. He only has 13 hits while leading the league in strikeouts looking with 17. But that’s where matters get awfully complicated for Rodriguez. Out of those 17 called strikeouts, only five of the pitches actually caught the strike zone. He’s a player who hit .331 in the minors with just 66 strikeouts in 299 at-bats last season. He has a good sense of the strike zone, and that’s been clear thus far in the majors.

He’s just getting absolutely no help from umpires behind home plate, and those frustrations reached a boiling point on Thursday.

During Seattle’s game against the Rays, Rodriguez was called out on strikes in one of the weirder sequences this season. On Strike 2 (which missed the strike zone), home plate umpire Shane Livensparger called the pitch a strike while first base umpire Tom Hallion ruled that the rookie held up his swing.

Rays catcher Rene Pinto knew it was ball. It’s why he signaled to first base for help. That sparked some confusion with Mariners manager Scott Servais coming out to argue the call. At 3-2, Rodriguez would be called out looking on a pitch that also missed the strike zone.

Servais would get ejected after that, and for good reason.

Basically, Rodriguez had a five-ball at-bat turn into a strikeout. It’s almost impossible for Rodriguez to get a rhythm at the plate when umpires are essentially punishing him for having good awareness of the strike zone. That kind of treatment sets a promising young player up to fail, and that’s the last thing MLB needs. The broadcast said that it was about time the umpires pick on someone else, and Mariners fans certainly agreed.

It’s getting ridiculous at this point.

College umpire enforced the dumbest rule to call a Florida hitter out on strikes

The rule made the game take longer!

If an umpiring crew can make it through a game without anyone knowing their names, you know it was a good night at the ballpark. That wasn’t the case for SEC umpire Scott Cline.

During Tuesday night’s rivalry matchup between the Florida Gators and Florida State Seminoles, Cline called Florida freshman infielder Deric Fabian out on strikes because Fabian repeatedly stepped out of the box between pitches without asking for time. At the time, Florida was up one run in the fifth inning with a runner on first and one out.

With the 0-2 count, Fabian stepped outside the box, and that was when Cline signaled multiples times that Fabian was out. The Florida dugout couldn’t believe it.