Posey baffled by terrible Angel Hernandez strike three call originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Buster Posey has been a pretty good judge of the strike zone ever since he debuted with the Giants in 2009.
Generally speaking, he hasn’t struck out that much in his career — just 672 punch outs in 1,310 games entering Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chavez Ravine.
During Posey’s first at-bat of the night against Dodgers starter Trevor Bauer, in a 1-2 count, the Giants’ catcher took what he thought was ball two.
The pitch clearly was several inches off the plate. It was closer to the edge of the left-handed batters box than it was the edge of home plate.
But home plate umpire Angel Hernandez — who has a questionable reputation — thought otherwise, and called Posey out on strike three.
“Oh man,” Giants broadcaster Jon Miller said in reaction to the pitch. “Now that’s a big strike zone all of a sudden and Buster can’t believe it.”
“Well, in the course of an at-bat, the outside corner will get established by Angel Hernandez,” Giants analyst Mike Krukow added. “OK, then you’re saying ‘OK, that’s where it’s at.’ And then all of a sudden, he’ll expand the zone. And here, he expands it by about six inches and it winds up costing Posey an at-bat.”
Posey brushed the dirt in the batter’s box as if he was getting ready for the next pitch, but once he realized Hernandez had called it strike three, he threw up his hands in disbelief.
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Posey, knowing he has to work with Hernandez for the rest of the night, didn’t put up much of a fight. But you just know that a player with his understanding of the strike zone was seething inside.
In his second at-bat two innings later, Posey didn’t let Hernandez decide the outcome as he doubled to right on a 1-2 count.