The Braves, their fans, and other players around the MLB overreact to a blown call in April
The Phillies beat the Braves 7-6 last night on a controversial play at the plate in the ninth inning. With one out and Alec Bohm on third base in the top of the ninth inning, Didi Gregorius popped a ball up to shallow left field along the line. Braves’ outfielder Marcell Ozuna caught the ball and immediately threw home, as Alec Bohm tagged and dash towards home plate to give the Phillies the lead. The umpire called Bohm safe at the plate.
Braves manager Brian Snitker stormed out of the dugout and got right up in umpire Lance Barrett’s face to argue the call. The play went under review and to the surprise of almost everyone watching, Bohm was ruled safe at the plate. Atlanta Braves fans threw trash onto the field in protest while ESPN, who puts on one of the worst MLB broadcasts night in and night out, decided to use the Braves’ fan antics to remind their viewers that “this type of thing only happens in Philadelphia.” Coming from a broadcast team that spent the entire game drooling over Ronald Acuna Jr and trying to convince everyone that Drew Smyly was a good pitcher, it should have came as no surprise that they would jump on any opportunity to bash Philadelphia fans.
Smyly had this to say after the game:
“It’s a shame to end a game like that. In real-time, it’s obviously bang-bang, but then we have five different angles on a nationally televised game, and it’s clear that his foot didn’t touch the plate, that it was on the chalk. Everyone saw it. For MLB not to overturn that, it’s embarrassing. Why even have replay if you won’t overturn that? They say there wasn’t enough evidence but there were five different angles. It’s clear, he didn’t touch the plate.”
Alec Bohm, smirked into the camera when talking to the media post game and simply stated that he was called safe and that’s all that matters. Bohm is correct. Although Smyly is probably right, at the end of the game, the score was 7-6 and the Phillies moved to 6-3 on the season.
Braves’ catcher, Travis d’Arnaud, who made it hard on everyone watching by not fully getting in front of the plate to stop Bohm in the first place, was a dramatic mess in his postgame media time. The distraught catcher questioned the entire replay system in the MLB and was upset that the umpires took five minutes to ensure that they got the call correct.
Dansby Swanson went to the podium and acted like the worst thing entire world happened when the Braves fans threw trash on the field. I understand that fans throwing things is never safe or good but give me a break dude. You’ll live to see another day.
Again, it did appear that Bohm failed to get his foot on the plate. I don’t think there is anyone out there debating that Bohm was in fact safe at home. Social media of course, erupted, and you even had Justin Turner of the Los Angeles Dodgers chiming in to tweet his displeasure.
Thanks Justin. We were all waiting to hear from you on what you thought about the call. Way to get on Twitter and let everyone know. Dork.
And poor Buster Olney. He’s acting like this blown call was the worst thing that’s ever happened to him. He probably didn’t even sleep last night. It’s 6:59 AM and he’s firing out tweets like the Phillies just stormed the capital building.
Yes, the call at the plate was a crucial part of the game but it certainly did not singlehandedly determine the outcome of the series finale. The Phillies scored in four different innings. Harper, Gregorius, and Hoskins all hit home runs, and every hitter from 2-7 had hits during the game.
At the end of the night, they called Bohm safe. It’s one game. We aren’t even 10 games into the MLB season. It’s April 11th and I’m fairly certain the Braves will be able to bounce back from a bad beat. Let’s not turn this into a week, or month long discussion.
Up Next: No days off. Chase Anderson will be on the mound in New York tomorrow against Mets’ pitcher David Peterson. It will be the first of four games in a row against the Mets.
Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY
