The Ump Show Part Two: Starring Angel Hernandez
For the second consecutive day, the Ump Show was on display at the Rogers Centre. Yesterday, it was home plate umpire Will Little inserting himself into the game. Tonight, it was none other than Angel Hernandez.
Good ol’ Angel is all too familiar around the league for his antics, and the Toronto Blue Jays were subjected to his tomfoolery behind the plate for the series opener against the LA Angels.
The night after the Blue Jays had their manager, starting pitcher and starting catcher ejected within mere moments, the Ump Show reared its ugly head once again.
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After J.A. Happ walked in a run during the second inning of play, he threw a pitch which Russell Martin was convinced was a strike (he held it for a good four-to-five seconds). It was a close call, but nothing egregious by any means.
Happ assumed it was strike three and started walking off the mound. Meanwhile, Hernandez ripped his mask off (much like Little did yesterday), started barking at Happ and stared down the mound.
As Buck Martinez mentioned on the Blue Jays broadcast, this may have been carry-over from what happened during yesterday’s tilt at the Rogers Centre, but Hernandez’ behaviour in this incident was completely uncalled for.
This was almost a carbon copy of how Little baited Marcus Stroman yesterday. Sure, Happ may have uttered an obscenity into his glove after walking in a run, but he never chirped Hernandez.
The only thing Happ was guilty of was walking towards home plate – and I can’t imagine he was doing it to confront Hernandez, Happ was probably moving in to talk to his catcher about the game plan with the bases still loaded.
Once again, this was an umpire with a quick trigger finger who escalated a situation which didn’t need to be escalated. There wasn’t any tension between the pitcher and the umpire, so why even take things to that level?
Were it not Happ – probably the guy with the calmest demeanor on the Blue Jays roster – things may have played out much differently.
[ Related Post: Fans Came to See the Stro Show, Not the Ump Show ]
After John Gibbons sauntered out of the dugout and got his two cents, things cooled down and went back to normal. But Hernandez’ reaction to the entire situation was completely unnecessary. He was practically looking for a fight with Happ, but J.A. didn’t take the bait.
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The best part of this entire exchange between Hernandez and the Blue Jays? After Hernandez stared down Happ for close to 15 seconds, Martin barked back at Hernandez and ordered him to “put his mask back on”.
Martin to Hernandez – "Put your mask back on". pic.twitter.com/7RJT1zFnTd
— Ian Hunter (@BlueJayHunter) July 29, 2017
No more Ump Shows, please. Surely, the Blue Jays have seen enough of this for one week.
Well, the unaccountable freakin home plate ump show continues against the Jays. Remember, Angel Hernandez, your job is to call balls and strikes, however, with J. Happ on the mound, instead of making that ball/strike call, you engaged in a misdirected staring match with J. Happ. If there was any accountability with umpire jobs, it should have been Angel Hernandez and Will Little that got the old heave/hoe from the game for not doing their jobs. Take heart, Toronto Blue Jay fans, because this speaks volumes about not only The Toronto Blue Jays, but, about Canadians as a whole. After all, American teams can only compete against us by relying upon hokey biased bullshit, and this also speaks volumes about Canadians and their teams, because despite all of this American born steamin’ horse puckey, we are still competing and succeeding against these same American teams and the umpires that are in their back pockets. Canada will always succeed at this because this country from coast to coast to coast is united in harmony and a unity that Americans will never understand, because they are solely focused on atrocities as described above, and on “Bombs Bursting in Air,” which never leads to anything good. I am truly thankful that I am, and will always be Canadian.
Go to hell Dale, you SOB
Nice, what grade school level did you flunk out of?
Angel Hernandez is also the ump that recently filed a racial inequality suit against the MLB, saying he’s been passed over for promotions because he’s Hispanic. I’m thinking it’s because of incidents like this one! This shouldn’t have happened either. Little & Hernandez escalated both situations unnecessarily. I think both umpires should’ve been ejected (sent home), and/or given time off without pay. And, if it was a repeat offense, fired. That’s what would happen in the work-a-day world that we, the fans, exist in. Why should their rules be any different? They should be held accountable for their actions too. They both need to apologize to the fans & players for ruining 2 baseball games with their nonsense.
Nice, what grade school level did you flunk out of?
Constance – Your comments are bang on right – You Go Girl!
John & Bob – Give your Freakin’ heads a shake.
John – To my last comment, you responded, “go to hell.” My response – “You First, John.”