Sometimes umpires are bad, and sometimes umpires make you question the validity of ever giving effort to anything, as we are all just specks in the universe, beholden to another speck’s horrible strikezone. And sometimes, Jayson Werth is gonna yell about it. The Nationals Tuesday night game in Atlanta was all three with CB Bucknor behind the plate.
The final out was punctuated with teammates restraining Werth from pursuing Bucknor and Bucknor being escorted off the field.
Jayson Werth letting CB Bucknor have it after the game pic.twitter.com/sELuQix4sB
— Danny (@recordsANDradio) April 19, 2017
The icing on the ump show, and the call that had Werth fired up, came in the ninth with the bases loaded, courtesy of what might be Blake Treinen’s final save opportunity.
Shawn Kelley relieved Treinen, recorded a second out, and with two strikes, got Chase d’Arnaud swinging. Matt Wieters’ step on home plate for the drop third strike that sent both teams back into the dugout and the MASN broadcast back to the studio for the postgame show was inconsequential, because the ump crew yelled “Hey, Sean K bring that back,” and ruled that this pitch was a foul tip:
“foul tip” pic.twitter.com/MI5UQEXzUH
— Zach Dillard (@Zach_Dillard) April 19, 2017
This was ruled a “foul ball.” I s–t you not. He missed it by several inches. #umpshow pic.twitter.com/TSDGoLaPgz
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) April 19, 2017
The Nats and announcers expressed their disbelief, and Kelley refocused to pitch a bowel-locking slider and officially record the strikeout, the save, and a Nationals win.
All night, Bucknor drew the ire of announcers, Nationals players, Braves players, Nationals fans, and the 23 and a half Braves fans in attendance. Here’s a look at his strikezone for Thursday’s game.
Beyond the end-of-game fiasco, here was the strike zone as called tonight … pic.twitter.com/BbOwHPSjWs
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) April 19, 2017
Erica May-Scherzer wasn’t thrilled about the strike zone her husband had to work around either.
When will umpires be held accountable after games? Players and managers face the media, might be time umps do too…
— Erica May-Scherzer (@emaysway) April 19, 2017
Werth was struck out on a pitch sequence featuring strikes that might have a chance at hitting a left-handed Danny Espinosa. This is not what they meant when you were told to “think outside the box,” CB.
When umpires complain about robots taking their jobs in a few years, show them this strikeout. pic.twitter.com/AZj1HTSEYM
— The D.C. Universe (@dcuniverse) April 19, 2017
Werth, who rarely filters himself when he feels strongly, had to restrain himself during his postgame interview.
Jayson Werth’s full quote on the end-of-game umpiring tonight… pic.twitter.com/Q24LU7F0qy
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) April 19, 2017
Ray Knight, of course, was one of the analysts incredulous at the officiating.
Ray Knight had some thoughts about CB Bucknor after the game pic.twitter.com/KFYz2ZcDjb
— Danny (@recordsANDradio) April 19, 2017
“That was ridiculous,” indeed, Uncle Ray.
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