There is a controversy among baseball fans over just who really is the worst umpire in the game. At the top--or bottom as it were--of most fans' lists are Angel Hernandez, and C.B. Bucknor. We've already awarded Angel our coveted Mr. Magoo Award, but is was Bucknor who stole the show last night with his performance behind the plate in the Nationals-Braves final contest of the season.
First, it's important to point out that these two teams really don't like each other. Historically, the Nationals' primary nemesis has been Philadelphia, but after sweeping the Phillies four straight at The Bank to close out the 2011 season, things relaxed a bit. Until, that is, Nationals COO Andy Feffer created "Take Back the Park" nights when the Phils were in DC--trying to limit the number of seats sold to out of town fans, putting on special between innings "entertainment" denigrating Phillies fans, etc. Then Cole Hamels drilled Bryce Harper intentionally. Harper settled the score by stealing home in the same inning....But I digress. For most of 2012 and 2013 it's been the Braves.
When this three game series began with a double header on Tuesday, Braves skipper Fredi Gonzales and Nats bench coach Randy Knorr met at the plate to deliver line-up cards. The previous series between the two teams had been a particularly nasty one in which Braves pitchers plunked Harper twice in one game, clearing benches and bullpens, resulting in several ejections and knocking Harper out of a game because he was just too sore to play. There was, of course, retaliation from Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg who plunked Justin Upton the next day. Gonzales, on Tuesday, asked Knorr, "Are we done?" To which Knorr replied, "I don't know, you tell me." Gonzales said, "We're done."
The Nationals had swept Tuesday's split double header and the final game was on Wednesday. Braves pitcher Alex Wood was throwing a pretty damn good game. He had a shut out going into the fifth, but loaded the bases with one out and Jayson Werth coming to the plate. Werth is probably the hottest hitter in the game right now and he worked the count full. Wood threw him a 92-mph fastball to the inside and Werth took the pitch. Wood and almost every one else in the park thought it was a strike. But Werth dropped his bat and trotted towards first--pushing in a run. Bucknor had called it a ball.
Wood exploded, yelling and pointing at Bucknor. Fredi Gonzales ran out to save his pitcher and, while arguing the call with Bucknor, was tossed for using the magic words. When things calmed down a bit, Harper smacked a sac fly to right and the score was 2-0 Nationals. Braves bench coach Roger Tosca pulled Wood and as the rookie right hander was walking to the dugout he let fly with a flood of curses and finger pointing at Bucknor, who promptly tossed out of the game a pitcher who was already out of the game. Wood's rant was caught live on TV and I suspect he'll get a pretty hefty fine and/or a five-game suspension.
Television viewers got to see the Pitch-Track show that the pitch to Werth was just off the plate. It was probably too close to take, but maybe Werth felt like he knew Bucknor's strike zone and worked it. In the clubhouse after the game, and after seeing the Pitch-Track shot, Wood said, "He called it a ball and it was a ball."
But wait, it gets better.
Just to set the scene, in the sixth, Nats starter Dan Ohlendorf left a couple pitches over the center of the plate for Dan Uggla and Justin Upton--he also air-mailed an easy toss to first over Adam LaRoche to put Jordan Schaffer on--and the Braves took the lead 3-2. In the bottom of the frame, Braves reliever Anthony Varvaro had two outs and no one on when he hung a breaking ball that hit Nats second-baseman Anthony Rendon square in the number 6 on his back. It clearly wasn't intentional, so Rendon trotted down to first and everyone got set to move on. Everyone except Bucknor.
Now this is the ridiculous part. Bucknor stepped out towards the mound and pointed at Varvaro issuing a warning. He then pointed to both dugouts and issued warnings.
WTF C.B.? Warnings to both dugouts on a two-out, none-on pitch that was clearly unintentional? Do you really have no understanding of the game of baseball?
So, Bucknor's Ridiculous Call wasn't on Wood's pitch to Werth, it was the decision to issue warnings after Varvaro's pitch. Bucknor said later to Nats skipper Davey Johnson that the umpiring crew had been told by MLB headquarters to keep a tight lid on the game, particularly involving hit batters. Still.....
But wait, there's more. That's right, if you act now you can get more blown calls.....
Later, in the ninth, Uggla took a pitch inside that looked to me to be in the same place Werth's pitch was and Bucknor called it a strike. Uggla rightly argued the call and Bucknor, his arm apparently worn out from tossing Gonzales and Wood and from issuing all those warnings, let him have his say. Braves reliever Craig Kimbrel was back to being unhittable (he'd been pummeled by the Nats in the first game of the double header on Tuesday), and the Braves won 4-2.
A tough loss for the Nats but at least Atlanta didn't clinch the division at Nationals Park so they'll have to lug all the champagne and plastic sheeting up to Chicago.
And for C.B. Bucknor? How this guy stays in the game escapes me, but there is now a Facebook page declaring "MLB Needs to Fire C.B. Bucknor." Congratulations, C.B.
