Another Major League Baseball game was played, which means another brutal umpire call was made, and the Phillies broadcasters took notice.
During the second inning Tuesday night, the Washington Nationals attempted to turn two. Nationals second baseman Jake Alu made the out at second and fired to first baseman Dominic Smith, who jumped about a foot to keep the ball from sailing toward the dugout. It was blatantly obvious that the errant throw allowed the runner at first to be safe. Amazingly, the umpire somehow missed Smith soaring above first base and called the runner out.
The runner beat the throw and the first baseman was well off the base when he caught it.
Umpire Jordan Baker called him out. pic.twitter.com/vcvJd2Rlxn
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) August 11, 2023
“What?” Kruk said, seeming wildly confused after hearing play-by-play voice Tom McCarthy relay the umpire’s out call.
“What is going on at first base?” McCarthy added while chuckling at how bad the first base umpire’s call was.
Kruk jokingly wondered if the umpires were nervous about Bryce Harper’s recent position change, calling it a possible “residual effect” even though Harper wasn’t at first for this brutal call.
But it definitely isn’t Harper’s fault. There’s been no shortage of bad umpires in recent years, with missed calls becoming a sort of epidemic and announcers have been seemingly more willing to point it out. This week alone, the Washington Nationals, New York Yankees, Houston Astros, and New York Mets broadcast booths have all called out umpires for bad calls. Now we can add Philly to that list.
The Phillies challenged the play at first, which led to more confusion in the booth as McCarthy and Kruk wondered what was taking the officials so long to overturn the call.
“How long do they need to look at this?” Kruk asked. “This takes longer than doing the postgame show with Michael Barkann.”
Finally, the umpire relayed New York’s decision to the crowd and overturned the call at first.
“I would have loved Jordan Baker to say, ‘My bad,’” McCarthy said, referring to the first base umpire who made the blunder. McCarthy also noted that Baker’s call would have been the third out in the inning, but the Nationals never moved toward the dugout and the Phillies never reached for their gloves, with every player recognizing the call was blatantly wrong.
“Something’s going on over there at first base, Tom,” Kruk added. “I haven’t put my finger on it.”
“We’ll have to do some investigating,” McCarthy added.
