I seriously want Team USA to win the World Baseball Classic, but the horrible calls this “umpire” has made in our games against Japan and Mexico are too much.
First there was the way he jobbed Japan by calling Tsuyoshi Nishioka out for leaving early on a sacrifice fly when he didn’t. Now, he just stole a home run from Mexico by not being able to tell that a ball hit the foul pole, and the rest of the umpires wouldn’t even take a look at the baseball to check.
The level of umpiring in this tournament has been mediocre at best. Before 2009, there needs to be an agreement not only with the MLB umpires but with Japanese, Korean and Latin American umpires to get the best international umps on the field.
He also blew the call on A-Rod coming back to first base in the first inning.
He missed it, yes, but that’s a tough call for any first base umpire to make because the first baseman is screening his view of the glove off. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on that call, since it wasn’t until I saw the replay that I could tell he was out.
There is absolutely no way a human being with functioning eyesight could not tell that ball hit the foul pole. Davidson either:
- Wasn’t watching the play, or
- Is deliberately throwing calls to benefit his country.
It’s not as bad or obvious as the 2002 women’s gold medal hockey game, but by baseball standards it’s outrageous. Davidson is easily the worst umpire I’ve ever seen, and the sooner he is banned from competitive baseball, the better.