Angry Todd calls out awful umps
TODD Frazier has had enough. After the Mets were shut out for the first time this season, the third baseman lost his cool at the end of Wednesday night’s game with home plate umpire Lance Barrett and then publicly aired his grievances with the umpires as a whole.
Frazier called for a meeting with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred or “anyone in MLB” to discuss the umpires. He will likely hear from the league office soon, but not for a meeting. He will probably face a fine for his comments.
“There is no accountability. I am getting really frustrated with these guys the last five or six games,” said Frazier, who went 0-for-4. “It puts you in the hole. I had two at-bats, where it puts you right in a hole.”
Lefty Sean Newcomb and the Braves bullpen held the Mets to three hits in the 7-0 loss at Citi Field. Newcomb struck out eight and the Mets struck out a total of 10 times.
“Like I said kid pitched a hell of a game, nothing against him, he shut us down, but when you’re getting in the hole pretty much every atbat, you are kind of backpedaling a little bit,” Frazier said.
He already met with individual umpires over the weekend in San Diego after he complained to that crew. Frazier said he would not name the umpires he met with.
“I asked the umpire if he understood how many pitches he missed. He said ‘No, I didn’t miss that many pitches. I said he missed 14 in one game. Which is the truth. He said he had a better percentage than that and let’s have a meeting. Which was good,” Frazier said. “I respect him for doing that. At the same time, you look back and see this kind of stuff and they are blatantly not strikes.
“I just can’t sit back anymore, something has to be said.”
And after the Mets lost their 10th in the last 16 games, Frazier made sure to say it.
“I explained to (Barrett) that pitch didn’t touch any part of the plate, very frustrating,” Frazier said of Barrett’s strike zone.
Frazier is 6-for-26 during the last six games with six strikeouts. He said that this has been a problem for the last couple of years. He said he has heard the complaints from other players too.
“Around the league,” Frazier said. “It’s been going on for years, this year has been worse for me.”