Both Dodgers And Twins Announcers Blown Away By Umpire Phil Cuzzi's Terrible Calls
By Liam McKeone
Last night's Los Angeles Dodgers-Minnesota Twins matchup went into extra innings out in California. The Dodgers would eventually emerge with a win in the 12th inning, but were helped along the way by a series of extremely questionable calls from home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi. In the top of the 10th Cuzzi's strike zone was so out of whack both team's sets of announcers took their turns laying into the umpire.
Here are the calls that totally screwed the Twins with the bases loaded in the top of the 10th. First up is the Minnesota broadcast, which is fairly tame considering how bad the strike calls were and how crucial the moment was.
"He never had a chance in that at-bat."
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 16, 2023
"That's not good."
"In a key spot, you've got to be better than that. He had to reach across the plate." pic.twitter.com/ORamLIJGCv
And here's the Dodgers team, more in awe than anything.
Dodgers announcers on the same sequence:
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 16, 2023
"Boy oh boy, Phil Cuzzi just made being a Major League hitter way harder than it already is."
"Both sides of the plate were an extra three inches. We shall take it. I mean, that's not even close."
"That's impossible for a hitter" pic.twitter.com/aL0oCQRZpG
Most of the time the team benefitting from a bad call like that will acknowledge it and then move on. A call has to be terrible for the announcers to muse just how bad it was before moving on.
No umpire is going to be perfect but as both announcing teams point out in their own way Cuzzi just has to be better than that in a close game during the extra frames.