Bad Night All Around

I held off on blogging about last night's loss until this morning because I wanted some time to gather my thoughts about Odubel Herrera and Angel Hernandez. It would be so easy to say they both suck and should never be allowed on an MLB field again. But cooler heads have prevailed. Or have they?

Hernandez was absolutely brutal last night. According to umpireauditor.com, Hernandez was the lowest-rated umpire of the day, missing 19 calls and making the right call just 85 percent of the time. He rang up six hitters on pitches outside the strike zone and called a strike on Jean Segura that was inside by a season-high 6.47 inches. And the photo above shows Kyle Schwarber absolutely losing his shit after getting called out in the ninth inning. 

To be fair, Hernandez was horrible for both the Phils and Brewers. Four Phillies and two Brewers were called out on strikes that were out of the strike zone, according to StatCast. Maybe it's time for robot umpires. Professional tennis has been using Hawk-Eye Live since 2017 to determine if shots are inside or out. And it's been wildly successful. MLB already uses instant replay on close calls, so why not just go for the robe umps for consistency throughout the game? I know there will be people screaming about taking the human element out of the game, but Hernandez's performance last night was flat-out brutal. 

Now onto Herrera. He came in to pinch hit for Matt Vierling with two outs in the bottom of the seventh with the game still scoreless. Herrera was called on because reliever Brad Boxberger is a righty, and Herrera is a lefty. Alec Bohm and Johan Camargo were up before Herrera and saw a combined nine pitches. So of course Herrera, who has been on the bench all night, decided to take a couple of pitches to see what Boxberger was throwing. Nope. He hacked at the first pitch and grounded out pathetically to third.

Let's move to the ninth. Herrera is now in center and Jace Peterson leads off and lifts a popup to short center. Camargo runs out to try and make a play, and Herrera tentatively moves in toward the ball. That play is the CFer's every day of the week since his momentum is taking him toward the ball and he has a better view. But Herrera never made the call and the call dropped between them. Peterson would eventually come around and score the game's only run. 

I was thrilled when his contract was up and I thought he'd be gone from this team forever. But for whatever reason, the Phillies brought him back. Mickey Moniak had a great spring and would have been in center except for breaking a bone in his wrist in the last game of spring training. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Herrera had something to do with it. I'm kidding. Mostly. I want Herrera gone. Yesterday.