And to hear both sides tell it, CB Bucknor was rotten Tuesday night.
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Bucknor had the plate for the Nationals-Braves game in Atlanta. Let’s just say his strike zone judgment was . . . impaired, especially on this Jayson Werth at-bat.
The arguments about camera angles/strike zone technology being misleading don’t hold water here. That’s just not good work.
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There was also this blown call on what everyone but Bucknor thought was a game-ending strikeout. Bucknor called it a foul tip, which is not reviewable.
After the Nats had nailed down a 3-1 victory, Werth gave Bucknor an earful.
Again, this is after a Nationals win. Imagine what would have happened (or been said) had the Nats lost.
GAME CENTER: Nationals-Braves box score, stats
Nationals TV analyst Ray Knight, who has been in baseball close to half a century, didn’t hold back with the criticism. He knows Bucknor is notorious around baseball for being a bad umpire.
Bucknor’s work had Braves radio play-by-play man Jim Powell sounding off, too:
Will Major League Baseball reprimand Bucknor? It can’t do much without the cooperation of the umpires’ union, so other than showing him a chart of his calls, which is routine, not much will happen. Once Bucknor gets the readout (the graphics below are unofficial), he’ll see these types of misses:
The too-easy response is that calling balls and strikes is difficult, no one’s perfect, and no one should argue. There’s no excuse for Bucknor being that bad, though. He’s a 20-year major league veteran. He has zero excuses.
