If you went to Friday’s game at Coors Field between the Philadelphia Phillies and Colorado Rockies to see home plate umpire Brian Walsh, you got your money’s worth early. If you went to see great players, like Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper, it may be a different story.
Tom McCarthy and Ruben Amaro Jr., calling the game for the Phillies on NBC Sports Philadelphia, weren’t exactly shy in voicing their frustration.
In what would be his only at-bat of the game, Harper came up in the first inning and struck out. While he struck out swinging, Harper was frustrated with Walsh’s call on Strike 2. After the third strike, which ended the inning, Harper threw his helmet down, prompting Walsh to give him a fine. The conversation continued and while it didn’t seem to be particularly animated, Walsh sent Harper to the showers, ejecting him from the game.
While not as frustrated as Chicago White Sox announcer John Schriffen was on Thursday, McCarthy and Amaro were both highly critical of Walsh.
“It didn’t look like it was all that heated,” McCarthy said. “It was Strike 2 that he was upset about. It’s just way too early, if you’re the umpire, to do this.”
“He was just having a conversation with him,” added Amaro. “You have to have some feel for the game and understand. I mean, it didn’t look like he was screaming at him or anything like that. He was having a discussion and talking to him, probably about the fact that he felt like the pitch was down, out of the zone.”
Tom McCarthy and Ruben Amaro Jr. weigh in on Bryce Harper getting ejected in the first inning.
“It’s just way too early, if you’re the umpire, to do this.”
“He was just having a conversation with him. You have to have some feel for the game and understand.” pic.twitter.com/rjmT3iZYjc
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 25, 2024
“He just said ‘You can’t do that’ to the home plate umpire which obviously, he can do it,” McCarthy said. “But it’s just early in the game to do something like that.”
“Had he said, any time you say ‘You’ and then some expletive,” Amaro clarified. “But it was clear to me that he was just trying to discuss the pitch and why he was upset about it.”
[Photo Credit: NBC Sports Philadelphia]
