Angel Hernandez stole the Yankees vs. Astros show on Sunday with his controversial and error-prone umpiring. His decisions were so erratic that fans and commentators of both the Yankees and Astros united in blasting him.
As reported by Umpire Strike Zone on Twitter, he failed to call a staggering 21 balls and strikes during the Yankees vs. Astros game.
Yankees commentator slams the umpire
Despite being absent till August due to a back injury, the veteran umpire quickly returned to his notorious reputation for making bad calls. The Washington Nationals booth too expressed criticism and disgust over some of his decisions earlier this week. Now, it is the turn of the Yankees.
During Sunday’s Houston Astros-New York Yankees game, Angel Hernandez managed to irritate both teams’ broadcasters, making it clear that he didn’t gain any new friends with his umpiring performance.
In the sixth inning of Sunday’s game, he made a balk call on Yankees pitcher Wandy Peralta. On the YES Network’s broadcast, fans could clearly hear him explaining that Peralta stepped toward the plate during his pick-off attempt at first base, resulting in Hernandez awarding second base to Houston outfielder Chas McCormick.
“That’s a balk,” Yankees play-by-play voice Micahel Kay shouted. “Of course Angel Hernandez involved. He’s gonna impact himself on the game.”
While the call on the balk was indeed correct, Michael Kay’s point still stands that Hernandez often tends to make himself the central figure of the game when umpiring, whether intentionally or not. This was evident just a couple of innings later when he completely mishandled a strikeout call.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Astros were leading 9-6, and Yankees utility player Isiah Kiner-Falefa stepped up to the plate as the potential tying run with two outs. Hector Neris threw a 2-2 pitch that should have been called a strike, but as expected, Hernandez didn’t make that call.
Michael Kay mentioned that the pitch was not called a strike and expressed that it could have been the final out of the inning. He noted that Héctor Neris was curious about the location of the pitch.
The commentators collectively agreed with the sentiment expressed.
As expected, Kiner-Falefa was issued a walk, and Yankees outfielder Harrison Bader followed with an RBI single, narrowing the Houston lead to just 2 runs. Thankfully for Neris and the Astros, they managed to escape the inning without allowing any more runs, securing their 9-7 victory.
As expected, Hernandez once again found a way to frustrate another analyst, and this time it happened during the postgame segment.
Former MLB reliever and current AT&T SportsNet Southwest analyst, Mike Stanton, expressed his thoughts on the matter, stating that Hector was somewhat affected by Angel Hernandez’s call. According to Stanton, it would have been a strike-three call as Neris threw a split-finger fastball. Stanton usually refrains from discussing umpires, but he mentioned that Hernandez clearly missed that one, as the pitch was within the strike zone.
As expected, this issue is likely to persist. It has become a recurring pattern – the sun rises, and Hernandez makes another blown call as an umpire. Unfortunately, Major League Baseball appears to be taking no action to address the problem. The cycle continues, repeating itself over and over again.
Having Angel Hernandez as the home plate umpire put pressure on Rodon to pitch flawlessly, but even that wasn’t sufficient. From the sidelines, Ashley Rodón playfully responded with “Angel” emojis whenever Hernandez made questionable calls. In the first two innings, she provided us with two lighthearted gestures.
Yankees fans join the blasting bandwagon
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
I get that umpires have a union and they deserve a union but when you’ve got umpires that are THIS BAD and the league has tried time and again to get rid of him because it seriously seems as if he has no freakin’ idea what constitutes a ball or strike or is simply vision impaired, he needs to go. Period. He shouldn’t have that much protection. When someone, union or not, is not doing the job they’re getting paid a boat-load of money to do, cannot or will not do that job to the best of their ability or simply can no longer do that job, they must go! PERIOD!