Despite his reputation as one of MLB's most frustrating and incompetent umpires, Angel Hernandez's performance in Sunday's game between the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays was still able to shock spectators. The question remains: when will the MLB intervene and put an end to this nightmare?
In Sunday's classic divisional showdown, it was umpire Angel Hernandez who found himself in the spotlight once again, and this time he may have outdone himself.
In the first of many terrible calls, it comes in an at-bat with Blue Jays reliever
Tim Mayza pitching to Yankees third baseman
Oswaldo Cabrera in the sixth inning. Mayza delivered a 92-mile-per-hour sinker literally right down the middle, but Cabrera, not feeling it was his pitch to hit let it be a strike. But... to everyone's surprise it wasn't. Despite the clear pitch, Hernandez deemed it a ball, possibly influenced by catcher Alejandro Kirk's movement as he prepared to try and pick off the runner at first.
Another insane situation occurred back in the first inning, this time in faour for the Blue Jays. All-Star second baseman
Gleybor Torres was facing Blue Jays starter Bowden Francis. Torres was putting up an impressive defensive at-bat, facing 9 pitches. With a full count, Francis seemed to have clearly stumbled in his windup, causing Torres to understandably step out of the batter's box. When the pitch was surprisingly allowed to be delivered to the plate, it was the following sequence that sparked outrage in Yankee stadium.
The pitch sailed inches above the zone, and clearly a ball to all 40,000 spectators, but to no one's surprise, the only one to have missed the call was... yep, you guess it, our beloved Angel Hernandez. Whether it was to be deemed a balk or just considered a ball, (both would have been satisfactory), Torres should have been given first base. However, Hernandez had a different interpretation, calling strike three and sending Torres back to the dugout.
Torres promptly contested the call, but Hernandez swiftly dismissed him. Manager Aaron Boone emerged from the dugout, seeking clarification, but he appeared unsatisfied with Hernandez's explanation.