The Nationals fell to the Astros 7-1 in Game 5 of the World Series, and now trail 3-2 after losing three consecutive games at home.
The Nationals have plenty to be frustrated by over the last few games, but something that really set them off was umpire Lance Barksdale, who was behind home plate in Game 5.
First, there was a pitch that looked an awful lot like strike three against Carlos Correa in the top of the fourth inning. Barksdale called it a ball. Correa took the next pitch out of the park for a two-run homer, which gave the Astros their third and fourth runs of the game.
Then, in the sixth and seventh innings, things just got bananas. Like, really bad. There were multiple pitches, for both teams, that looked either pretty clearly like balls or strikes, and were called the opposite of what they were.
That call in the sixth started it off, as it appeared that Barksdale tried to argue that because the catcher stood up, he wasn’t able to see if it was a strike or not. That seems, bizarre.
Then, in the seventh, it just went off the rails. The Astros were furious in the top half of the inning, and the Nationals were really furious in the bottom half, and I can earnestly say I had no idea what some of these calls were.
It wasn’t like Barksdale was consistently giving the inside edge, or something. It was just balls all over the place, being called whatever, willy nilly.
People got mad.
We’ll update if Barksdale speaks after the game.
