Umpires invite attention as controversy dawns on Florida - Philadelphia game – MLB News
The Florida Marlins recently avoided a series defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies. They did so in style as they ventured clear out of danger in the 14th inning with a winning run from Emilio Bonifacio. David Herndon did his best to
restrain the Miami based side from scoring but he was unable to maintain his composure during the last part of the game.
Herndon allowed seven walks and his last one gave away the game. Mike Cameron was the recipient of the last one as he turned it into a RBI walk. With the game now over it is important to note that the match did not progress as smoothly as one fan would expect.
There was controversy in the top of the sixth when the Phillies were hovering over the strike zone with the bat.
Hunter Pence was called into action when Ryan Howard was walked to first base. He smashed a pitch from Anibal Sanchez towards right-field. Bryan Petersen was on the ball and he jumped at the wall to make the catch. A fan, unfortunately, interfered and deflected
the player’s catching glove and the ball. The decision was originally a double both managers from the teams confronted the umpires for a review.
Crew Chief, Joe West, was called into play as he was asked to review the play. Studying the situation clearly, he called Pence out and placed Howard back on first base from third. Phillies’ manager, Charlie Manuel, argued but his heated outburst was met
with an ejection.
"I had two managers on the field," Joe West explained. "One of them was arguing that they wanted an out, and the other was arguing that he wanted a home run. Because they wanted me to go look because they wanted a home run, I got to judge whether it went
over the fence or not.”
At the end of the day, things could have been very different if the call had gone in favour of the Phillies. Regardless of what took place then, the attention eventually drifted from the controversy when the game went into the 14th inning.
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