The Washington Nationals are 26-40 without much of a chance at anything this season.
However, don’t tell that to manager Dave Martinez. The Nationals skipper nearly lost his mind after their 5-4 loss Wednesday night to the Houston Astros over a controversial base-running play.
In the bottom of the ninth with the game tied at four with one out, Astros’ Jake Meyers grounded out to shortstop CJ Abrams who cut down the winning run at home. Nationals’ catcher Keibert Ruiz fired to first to attempt an inning-ending double play, however, the throw bounced off of Meyers’ helmet, rolled into the outfield and allowed Jose Abreu to score as the winning run.
Martinez argued with the umpires that Meyers interfered with the throw by running out of the baseline. But with the game being over, he wasn’t able to get his money’s worth with his on-field argument, so he brought a printed photo of the play with him to his postgame press conference.
“There it is right there!” said Martinez while angrily pointing at the picture. “Take a look at it. Is that on the line? I don’t think so. I’m over this play. Seriously.
“They need to fix the rule. If this is what the umpire sees that he’s running down the line, I’m tired of it. I’m tired of it. Fix it.”
Martinez added that he was not given an explanation about the play, which likely added fuel to the fire with his demonstrative postgame presser that will likely result in a fine.
“We lost the game, and he had nothing to say about it because he can’t make the right call. Brutal,” Martinez said.
“I can’t do nothing about those umpires, I really can’t. Like I said, they need to take a look at that and understand that he screwed that play up and that’s all I’m gonna say about it.”
This isn’t the first time the 58-year-old was irate over a call regarding the baseline, as this call likely brought back some memories.
In Game 6 of the 2019 World Series, ironically against the Astros at Minute Maid Park, then Nationals’ shortstop Trea Turner was called out for running too far inside of the baseline trying to leg out an infield single. Unlike Wednesday night, the Nationals actually won that World Series in seven games for their first and only title in franchise history.