For the past month the marlins have had a rough time with umpires and controversial calls.
The first event was the foul ball that was fair and would’ve given the marlins a walk off win against the NL east rival Phillies.
Now just recently against the Reds, in a rather important series, Marlins catcher Bret Hayes was in an at-bat where he was hit on the leg with a pitch and the home plate umpire called it a foul tip.
The pitch on instant replay clearly demonstrated that Hayes couldn’t have swung and touched the ball since it was very inside.
Now as I had expected manager Edwin Rodriguez defended his catcher and began to talk to the Home Plate Umpire Phil Cuzzi. What Rodriguez said was unclear, but I’m extremely sure that he had asked for help from the first base umpire.
Though from what I can only guess is arrogance, Cuzzi felt it unnecessary since he thought he had the call right.
He was clearly wrong.
I don’t care if he was hit or not, it doesn’t bother me at all. What does bother me is when a manager asks for a second opinion it should be given, especially when the home plate umpire doesn’t have a full and complete view of the play.
One of those calls have already cost the marlins a game and it’s a shame to lose games on bad calls.
An umpire shouldn’t feel embarrassed about a bad call, and if he is in doubt he should consult the call with his umpiring crew (that is one of the reasons why they are there).
This is a call out to all umpires, use your umpiring crew, just because you screw up once doesn’t mean you have to continue to look like a fool by saying that you got the call right when you clearly didn’t.
After this controversy I strongly suggest the MLB make changes to the way umpires referee games. It is frustrating to players, frustrating to fans, and takes a toll on the sport.
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