Angel Hernandez Leaves Mets Announcers Baffled Over Egregious Blown Call On The Very First Batter Of The Game
It is not often that a Major League Baseball umpire is a household name. Angel Hernandez is one of the few and it's not for good reason.
The 61-year-old has been a league-wide umpire since 2000 and he is terrible at his job.
On Sunday afternoon, Hernandez was at it again. And it only took one batter.
Brandon Nimmo led off the first inning of the Mets' game against the Marlins and drove the sixth pitch of the game into the left-centerfield gap. He got on his horse and legged out what appeared to be a triple.
Hernandez had other ideas and asked Nimmo to return to second base because the ball was lodged under the fence for a ground-rule double. Except it wasn't...
Miami centerfielder J.J. Bleday did not put his hands up to pause play. Nobody seemed to bat an eye on the play and things continued as normal.
Despite the clear lack of issue, Hernandez, who was the furthest umpire away from the play, called it dead. Nimmo got two bags instead of three to leadoff the game.
The Call Was Wrong. Angel Hernandez, Unsurprisingly, Was Wrong
On the SNY broadcast call for the Mets, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling were baffled. They couldn't believe what they had witnessed...
... until it clicked. It was Angel Hernandez who made the call. Then it made perfect sense.
Their realization made for a truly hilarious television moment.
"He’s the furthest one away and he’s got to stick his nose in it." Keith said. "Now we understand."
"If you had the over/under at 90 seconds with Angel and you had the under, you win with Angel," said Darling. Take a listen:
It is truly astonishing that Angel Hernandez remains in the MLB. The fact that he is allowed to call games despite his consistent failures is mind-blowing.