2013 certainly hasn’t been the year of the umpire.
Granted, Wednesday night’s matchup between the Miami Marlins and the Philadelphia Phillies was a pretty meaningless game in the last week of September, but either way, you hate to see a blown call like this. In the seventh inning of the tied game, with two men on and two out, Marlins outfielder Christian Yelich hit a chopper down the first base line and it looked like he would certainly be able to stride it out before reliever Cesar Jimenez could reach the bag.
First baseman Kevin Frandsen scooped up the ball and flipped it to Jimenez, who was late covering the bag. Jimenez did his best to reach out and tag Yelich with his non-glove hand (where the ball was residing), but put on an Oscar-worthy performance when he raised his glove as if he’d made the tag with the ball.
First base umpire C.B. Bucknor bought it, and Yelich was called out even though he was clearly safe by a mile.
Check out the blown call in the GIF below, courtesy of @CrashburnAlley.
