Washington Nationals Rapid Reaction: Ian Desmond Shines In Nats’ Loss To Marlins
By Ricky Keeler
Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Umps Get Calls Right, But Took Their Time
Last night, there were two interesting situations that happened, with one of them involving the use of replay. The first one occurred in the bottom of the third inning and Yunel Escobar at the plate. During the at-bat, Cosart threw a pitch up and in against Escobar that appeared to hit his right shoulder.
While the Nats’ third baseman stayed in the game, the home plate umpire, Angel Hernandez, ended up calling the pitch a strike because Escobar had gone around. The Nats’ third baseman would end up working a walk anyway, but it was interesting to see how long it took Hernandez to make that call.
However, the talk of the night was a play that occurred in the bottom of the sixth. With Harper on first, Jayson Werth hit a single to right that Harper (who had fouled a pitch off his foot during the at-bat) tried to advance to third on, but right fielder Marcell Ozuna made a great throw to third as Harper was called out.
Williams would decide to use his challenge on the play. The official time of the replay was four minutes and six seconds. While they got the call right as the video showed Harper’s hand beat the tag by Prado, there has to be a way for these calls to be decided quicker.
The umpires do have to go through many angles in New York, but if it is not obvious after a certain point, then the call should stand as is. However, the Nats could not take advantage of that call as Bour threw out Harper at the plate on a groundout by Clint Robinson and Desmond flew out to right to end the inning. Overall, the Nats went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left seven on base in the loss.
Next: Nats Recap: Comeback Falls Short In Loss To Miami