Umpiring takes over; Padres lose 3-2 to Marlins

In Miami, the San Diego Padres lost a close game by the score of 3-2 to the Marlins. 

“We will put in a call for sure,” that is a quote from Jayce Tingler about the umpiring on Saturday in Miami. Every game there are missed calls here and there, but rarely does an umpire have such a large impact on a game as he did on Saturday.

The biggest story of the game was the performance by Doug Eddings, the home plate umpire.

He took personal offense to the Padres’ complaints and used his power to impact the game. The umpiring got really bad in the sixth inning. Fernando Tatis Jr. was called out on strikes on a slider that was well off the plate. Later that inning, Wil Myers struck out without ever swing his bat. All three strike calls were clearly out of the zone.

That isn’t where it ended for San Diego.

In the seventh inning, Ha-Seong Kim watched three pitches out of the zone, all were called strikes outside the zone. Surprisingly the first ejection of the game didn’t come until the eighth inning. It was Tommy Pham who was ejected. Like many of his teammates, Pham watched a pitch out of the strike zone go by only for it to be called strike three. The outfielder had seen enough. He argued as walking back to the dugout and eventually was tossed from the game. That was his second ejection in his eight-year career.

Later in the inning Skip, Schumaker was ejected for the first time ever, as a player or coach.

Just an amazing performance from Mr. Doug Eddings. Do something right for once and hold him accountable @MLBUA pic.twitter.com/mtz582eHhp

— Cosha (@pochineskyy) July 25, 2021

“It was frustrating. That was as wide as I’ve seen a zone. Our guys train hard extremely hard at staying disciplined in the zone. A ton of frustration,” Tingler added in the postgame press conference. He received a warning early on about arguing balls and strikes. That forced him to remain quiet while the rest of the team continued to complain.

On the brighter side of things, Weathers had a great game after returning from a foot injury. On July 11, he injured himself mid-game. At first, it appeared to be a knee injury but was later determined to be a foot injury which allowed him to return so quickly.

With the injury in mind, the Padres kept him on a short leash. He was able to work four solid innings. He allowed two hits, three walks, hit a batter and struck out four batters. He came into the season as the youngest pitcher in the big leagues. He continues to develop his game as a pitcher while at the highest level.

Weathers didn’t just pitch a good game. In the third inning, he hit his first career home run to dead center. In his young career, he has been impressive with the bat. This home run left the yard at 104.3 mph. He had an even harder struck ball on July 6.

Ryan Weathers has the 5th highest exit velocity in the game(107.6). That's higher than all three home runs hit this game

— East Village Times (@EVT_News) July 7, 2021

“So I hit it and I didn’t feel it in my hands so I was like okay I got that good, so I saw Marte’s numbers and it was for sure over his head. Then I saw him stop, I was like there is no way that just went it out. So it was a cool feeling.” Weathers said about his home run.

Evan Anderson

Evan is a student finishing up a degree in Finance from Northern Arizona University. The ability to break down numbers and find the story behind them has lead to his first of writing for East Village times. He covers baseball which is the sport he grew up playing and has followed even after his playing years.