Dodgers: Trevor Bauer flames Angel Hernandez in NSFW postgame
![SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 23: Trevor Bauer #27 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts to striking out Trent Grisham #2 of the San Diego Padres to end the sixth inning of a game at PETCO Park on June 23, 2021 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_752,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/https-3A-2F-2Fdodgersway-com-2Fwp-content-2Fuploads-2Fgetty-images-2F2021-2F06-2F1325157670-850x560-ace799632457d60609d7d34e23ba1637.jpg)
You’re not going to believe this, but Dodgers starter Trevor Bauer was less than pleased with what Angel Hernandez provided behind the plate on Monday night against the Giants.
Much less than pleased! Perturbed, even.
Bauer has been among MLB’s most vocal regarding the inane end-of-inning checks pitchers across the game have been subjected to lately. Even the most casual fan knows the optics are terrible, whether a pitcher has been dominant or just got lit up, and Bauer did a thorough job of breaking down (live on air) about why a belt flip or a hat grab just won’t cut it, as long as MLB’s umpires are in charge of the sentencing.
And no umpire is less qualified than Hernandez, who made a spectacle out of the Dodgers righty midway through Monday night’s win (which disproved many of the prevailing theories regarding his reliance on tackiness).
Following the victory, Bauer — who’s never thrilled, per se — closed his press conference with a short-and-hot snipe at Hernandez, the umpire who’s usually dead center of every conversation after games he calls.
Huh. Wonder why that is?
“I’m surprised no one asked about fuckin Angel Hernandez.”
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 29, 2021
Trevor Bauer didn’t like having his hand held apparently
(h/t @StickyCheck) https://t.co/Wra2Anghp6
Dodgers starter Trevor Bauer didn’t enjoy being inspected by Angel Hernandez, who is incompetent.
Hernandez didn’t find anything — no one ever does, except for the umps who inspected Hector Santiago — but Bauer was still surprised nobody brought up the moment in the game’s aftermath. After all, aren’t we all legally required to talk about spin rates and goop all day everyday? Come on, people, give it your best shot.
Or perhaps Bauer was simply waiting for someone to prod him about Hernandez’s strike zone, which was (say it with us now!) extremely terrible.
Let’s take a gander at a red dot that’s not where it should be, shall we?
Ahh, yes, it's an Angel Hernandez game pic.twitter.com/e1mmjLkF5x
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) June 29, 2021
Little goo in your eye, Angel?
Obviously, it stings Bauer every time he’s checked by an umpire who doesn’t really know what he’s looking for, but getting the once-over from a famous incompetent like Hernandez has to hurt a little more.
As the righty displayed for everyone on the Dodgers pregame show, a mix of rosin and sweat can be just as sticky as a foreign substance — at least, to the untrained eye. Santiago, the only Mariners pitcher who’s been “caught” so far, claims that’s all he was using, and that he simply perspired into the powder MLB provides every pitcher.
For as long as this charade goes, though, we’re going to have to keep watching people like Hernandez strip pitchers bare, and those pitchers are going to have to keep addressing it.