WM Phoenix Open

TPC Scottsdale (Stadium Course)



    Time To Retire

    It took terrible umpire Angel Hernandez all of...(checks notes)...one week to piss everyone off again

    May 05, 2021

    MLB umpires, as a whole, have been utterly horrific in 2021, worse than ever it seems. It's reminiscent of the 2012 NFL referee lockout, when the replacement refs were so terrible for three weeks that fans were clamoring for the real refs to return. The key difference here is that these are not replacement umps we are talking about, making their incompetency all the more pathetic.

    Fortunately, for the majority of the boys in blue, the same ol' scapegoat is hogging all the negative attention and keeping the rest of them out of the limelight. We are of course talking about Angel Hernandez, who has once again royally pissed off everyone just seven days after royally pissing off everyone. The man has a gift, and by gift we mean he stinks at his job. 

    Last week, Hernandez was behind the dish, normally where he does his most egregious work. On Tuesday night, though, he was down the first base line, where his first massive screwup came on a fly ball to deep center in the bottom of the third inning. How did he screw up a call that happened in center field when he was behind first base? We'll get to that in a second! 

    Screwup No. 2 came in the top of the sixth, when Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez hit a dribbler down the third base line, beat out the throw by a mile but was called out by Hernandez. The great Jomboy broke down both of Angel's gaffes nicely below, as he always does:

    Call No. 2 is your very standard screwup, one that happens to the best of umps. Was Ramirez blatantly safe and Hernandez is just that bad? Yes, but he's not alone in botching simple ones like that. The first one, though, is so unbelievably mind-numbing that it's hard to fathom. Everyone in the stadium and at home sees the ball drop in center field, and this clown comes from behind first base to get himself involved and call it an out. In the process, not only does he possibly rob the Royals of a run and piss them off, but he also pisses Terry Francona and the Indians off for calling an out that wasn't, which led to an out on Benintendi, which led to the umps putting Benintendi on third because of Hernandez's blown call, which led to Francona asking what the hell happened. Like I said, mind-numbing. 

    Had he not screwed that one, Benintendi might score, or at least make a big turn and force a throw, and Salvador Perez walks into second base, now putting another runner in scoring position. Instead, the Royals got one run out of the inning, ultimately lost the game 7-3, and everyone now has a headache. All because one dolt behind first base felt the need to inject himself into the game. Just get rid of him already, please.