Forums

Jim Bowden at the Athletic lists his ten biggest disappointments of the young season so far, and bad umpiring clocks in at number 3: 3. Umpires making headlines because of egregious mistakes We have never had a more talented group of umpires in the history of the game. Instant replay has been a huge success and evaluating umpires has never been more precise. That’s why it’s so disappointing that umpires Angel Hernandez and Hunter Wendelstedt stood out for all the wrong reasons in the season’s first month. First up was Hernandez, who on April 12 made a series of laughable calls behind the plate during an at-bat by Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford. With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning, Langford didn’t swing at single pitch from Astros righty J.P. France, watching all five he faced land significantly outside the strike zone. Ball 1 was in the dirt, Ball 2 was high and outside, “Ball 3” was way outside, “Ball 4” was farther outside and “Ball 5” was even farther outside. Hernandez called the last three strikes. Everyone misses calls, but not like this. Did Hernandez decide to let a rookie know who was boss, that he would decide the strike zone rather than go by the rule book? Who knows with Hernandez, who has a well-deserved reputation as one of the least accurate umpires of all time. This was a total embarrassment to the integrity of the sport, and why Hernandez hasn’t been fired or paid to go away is beyond me.   Even worse than that was what took place during the Yankees-A’s game on Monday when Wendelstedt, the home plate umpire, ejected manager Aaron Boone because he heard a fan heckle him and thought it was Boone. TV cameras supported the account of Boone, who said he didn’t say anything to deserve the ejection. After the game, Wendelstedt doubled down on Boone’s ejection, saying, “Apparently what he said was there was a fan right above the dugout. This isn’t my first ejection. In the entirety of my career, I have never ejected a player or a manager for something a fan has said. I understand that’s going to be part of a story or something like that because that’s what Aaron was portraying. He’s the manager of the Yankees. So, he’s the one that had to go.” Wait, what? Now you’re accusing the manager of lying and you’re misrepresenting the situation? Apparently Wendelstedt didn’t know YES Network had a camera trained on Boone that showed he said nothing and another camera on the fan in the front row who made the comment. Wendelstedt should have been suspended and fined a day’s pay for this egregious mistake as well as his response.

Isaac Albeniz „Iberia“ Nelson Goerner (Alpha)                                                                        2022 ….

Sun Ra 'Inside the Light World: Sun Ra Meets the OVC' (Strut 2LPs)

It's one of my favourite of his weirder ones.

Got my copy after you posted about it a while back, playing here now too