Pedro Martinez Throws Some High Heat At Umpire Angel Hernandez After Brutal Game 3
By Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- If you thought the Yankees had a bad night on Monday, veteran umpire Angel Hernandez would like you to hold his proverbial beer.
Hernandez is notably one of the worst umpires that Major League Baseball has to offer, and yet somehow, someway, he was in charge of all the calls at first base for Game 3 between the Red Sox and Yankees. Fittingly, Hernandez had four of his calls challenged, with three of them getting overturned by replay review. That was all within the first four innings of Boston's 16-1 drubbing of New York.
Check out the three plays that were overturned once New York put a good set of eyeballs on them:
Tough night for umpire Angel Hernandez. Call overturned. pic.twitter.com/KDjRkEDRsO
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) October 9, 2018
Hernandez did not talk with reporters after the game but MLB issued a statement, saying they are happy the replay system "allowed the umpiring crew to achieve the proper result" on all of the reviews. They did not comment on the 10 minutes baseball fans will never get back as they reviewed some fairly obvious blunders by Hernandez at first base.
According to ESPN, Hernandez has had 18 of his calls at first base go to video review over the last three years. Of those 18, 14 of them have been overturned -- a ridiculous 78 percent. The average overturn rate among all (somewhat competent) umpires is 60 percent.
Enter Pedro Martinez, who used his platform on the postgame show to rear back and fire a fastball across the brow of Hernandez.
"Major League Baseball needs to do something about Angel," said Martinez. "It doesn't matter how many times he sues Major League Baseball. He's as bad as there is."
Bless you, Pedro. Bless you.
Martinez is referring to a lawsuit that the 57-year-old currently has against the league for racial discrimination. Hernandez alleges that the league practices "racial discrimination in baseball's promotion and postseason assignment policies," all stemming from a feud he said he had with MLB Chief Baseball Officer, Joe Torre. Since filing the lawsuit, he's been assigned the 2017 All-Star Game as well as the 2017 and 2018 postseasons.
Chances are we'll all have plenty more opportunities to criticize Hernandez Tuesday night during Game 4. He'll be behind the plate as the Red Sox look to clinch the series. Just the set of eyes you want determining every single pitch and every run that crosses the plate. For the first time, maybe ever, we should feel grateful to have instant replay in baseball.