Bryce Harper Voices Issue With Umpire After Phillies-Giants
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Bryce Harper Voices Issue With Umpire After Phillies-Giants
Bryce Harper Voices Issue With Umpire After Phillies-Giants. The Philadelphia Phillies failed to sustain their momentum following two consecutive wins over the Cincinnati Reds in a previous series. The Phillies could have done more on offense had they got more favorable calls from home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi. Despite the loss, Philadelphia remains atop the National League East standings with a 53-38 record with five more games on its schedule before the MLB All-Star break. The Giants took the lead only in the eighth inning.
The Philadelphia Phillies failed to sustain their momentum following two consecutive wins over the Cincinnati Reds in a previous series, as they fell prey to the San Francisco Giants on Monday, 3-1.
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It was a tight battle for most of the contest, with the Giants taking the lead only in the eighth inning. The Phillies could have done more on offense had they got more favorable calls from home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi, who was a subject of Bryce Harper’s criticism following the game.
“I feel like anytime I complain it’s pretty obvious,” Harper said about the calls he believes Cuzzi missed (h/t Bob Cooney of NBC Sports Philadelphia). “He knows he missed them. Sometimes that happens. Umpire took over the game. I couldn’t say much more, I didn’t want to. I barely said anything to him when I walked off the first time on the strike three that was up. I respect Phil, I like Phil a lot. But obviously that doesn’t help us in that situation. He’s got to do better.”
Giants shortstop Willy Adames (2) and Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper (3) embrace at the end of the first inning at Oracle Park.Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images
Harper finished the game 1-for-3 with a walk, a strikeout and zero runs scored. He struck out looking in the fifth inning with a runner on base on a pitch that appeared to go above the strike zone, thus wasting a golden opportunity for the Phillies to break a 1-1 tie. There were also two dubious strike calls on Harper in the eighth inning before he grounded out.
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The Phillies’ loss also wasted a sterling performance on the mound by starter Cristopher Sanchez, who pitched seven innings of one-run ball, while striking out eight Giants hitters through 105 pitches.
Despite the loss, Philadelphia remains atop the National League East standings with a 53-38 record with five more games on its schedule before the MLB All-Star break.
Related: Phillies Trade Idea Pairs Bryce Harper With 2-Time All-Star Outfielder
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 8, 2025, where it first appeared.
Bryce Harper Expresses Frustration With Umpiring After Phillies’ Heartbreaking Late-Inning Loss to Giants
Bryce Harper returned from a 25-day stint on the injured list on Monday night. The Philadelphia Phillies lost 3-1 to the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. Harper went 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout, with his batting average sitting at .200. Trea Turner and Cristopher Sánchez were notably absent from the NL All-Star roster. The loss stung more amid recent disappointments for the Phillies’ offense and defense.. Zack Wheeler, Kyle Schwarber and Matt Chapman all earned All-Stars nods, with Wheeler and Schwarber receiving themedal nods for the first time in their careers. The other two were selected for the second time.
Bryce Harper Points Finger at Faulty Umpire Calls After Loss to Giants
Harper’s night was defined by two at-bats struck by questionable strike calls. In the fifth inning, he struck out looking on a pitch above the strike zone. In the eighth, he faced two pitches out of the zone, both called strikes. “I feel like any time I complain, it’s pretty obvious, right? He knows he missed them,” Harper said postgame.
Despite the miscues, Harper kept his composure, though the Phillies’ dugout didn’t hold back, lobbing comments at Cuzzi. “The umpire took over the game… I didn’t really say anything to him when I walked off the first time,” Harper added in the postgame conversation, “I just told him he missed it. I respect Phil. I like Phil a lot, but obviously, it doesn’t help us in those situations.”
The Phillies’ offense struggled to find its rhythm, managing just one run on a wild pitch by Giants starter Landen Roupp in the fifth. Harper went 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout, with his batting average since returning from the IL sitting at .200 (4-for-20) with four walks and 10 strikeouts.
The Giants picked up speed late. In the eighth, Casey Schmitt’s groundball drove in the go-ahead run, and Matt Chapman’s headfirst dive into home added another, securing a 3-1 lead. Orion Kerkering (5-4) took the loss after hitting Willy Adames and allowing a single to Chapman.
San Francisco’s Tyler Rogers (4-2) escaped a jam in the eighth, and Camilo Doval sealed his 14th save, surviving a 13-pitch battle with J.T. Realmuto before inducing a game-ending double play. A diving catch by Giants right fielder Luis Matos on Kyle Schwarber’s line drive in the fifth sealed the deal, shattering the Phillies’ hopes for the night.
Phillies All-Star Snubs
The loss stung more amid recent disappointments. On Sunday, Thomson announced the NL All-Star selections, with Zack Wheeler and Schwarber earning nods, but Trea Turner and Cristopher Sánchez were notably absent. Turner, leading the NL with 110 hits and a 3.1 WAR, called the snub “out of my control” but admitted it stings. His family wants it more than he does.
Sánchez, sporting a 7-2 record and 2.59 ERA, was equally surprised. “It got me by surprise,” he said through an interpreter, vowing to use the slight as motivation.
Bob Uecker, longtime voice of the Brewers and a star of ‘Major League,’ dies at 90
Bob Uecker was the Milwaukee Brewers’ play-by-play announcer for more than 50 years. He died Thursday at 90 years old. He had been battling small cell lung cancer since early 2023. He was given the nickname “Mr. Baseball” as a tongue-in-cheek nod to his mediocre playing career. He played catcher for six teams, including the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals. He also had a starring role in the 1980s sitcom “Mr Belvedere” and appeared on “The Tonight Show” He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003, and he was still calling games in his 80s and 90s. He didn’t have a formal contract with the Brewers, but he could’ve left for a bigger market for a better deal, the team said. He is the most popular figure in Brewers history, and second place isn’t close to being close to him, a team spokesman said. The team said his passing is a “profound loss”
Uecker, whose humor made him a celebrity far outside the baseball world, died Thursday at 90 years old, the Brewers announced. The Uecker family said in a statement that he had been battling small cell lung cancer since early 2023. Uecker had been the play-by-play voice of the Milwaukee Brewers dating to 1971, one of the longest runs by a broadcaster with one team in MLB history.
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“Ueck was the light of the Brewers, the soundtrack of our summers, the laughter in our hearts, and his passing is a profound loss,” the Brewers said in a statement. “He was the heart and soul of Wisconsin and a dear friend. Bob loved people; his presence warmed every room and he had a way of welcoming all of us into his world as if we were lifelong friends.”
Fans outside of Wisconsin also knew Uecker, who rose to a level of fame rarely experienced by baseball radio broadcasters. He was on their TVs, appearing with Johnny Carson regularly on “The Tonight Show,” having a starring role in the 1980s sitcom “Mr. Belvedere” and featuring in Miller Lite commercials that are still memorable decades after they aired. Many fans still recite Uecker’s best lines from his character in “Major League.”
But at his core, Uecker wasn’t a national star. He was Milwaukee, his hometown. Year after year, he came back to call games on WTMJ radio for what was usually a losing Brewers team. When the Brewers were bad, he could carry an entire season with his entertaining stories between play-by-play. On the rare occasions when the Brewers were good, he elevated the games with his work as a broadcaster. Uecker’s broadcasting earned him the prestigious Ford Frick Award in 2003, and he was presented with the honor at Hall of Fame weekend in Cooperstown. His speech at the Hall of Fame was legendary.
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Uecker was given the nickname “Mr. Baseball” as a tongue-in-cheek nod to his mediocre playing career. But after a lifetime entertaining baseball fans, the nickname was actually quite fitting.
Bob Uecker spent more than 50 years as the Milwaukee Brewers’ play-by-play announcer. (Photo by Jeffrey Phelps/MLB Photos via Getty Images) (Jeffrey Phelps via Getty Images)
Bob Uecker was a broadcasting legend
Many of Uecker’s self-deprecating jokes were derived from his major-league career. He hit .200 over his six seasons playing catcher with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals. One of his 14 major-league homers came off great Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax. In typical Uecker form, he said he worried that homer would keep Koufax out of the Hall of Fame. Uecker also homered off Hall of Famers Ferguson Jenkins and Gaylord Perry.
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One of Uecker’s favorite jokes was about his signing with the Braves in 1956. He would say he signed for $3,000, which upset his father because he didn’t have that kind of money to pay the Braves. No matter how many times he told the joke, it always got a laugh.
Uecker’s stories came out when he was on the broadcast and the game was out of hand. He started broadcasting Brewers games in 1971, the team’s second year in Milwaukee. He was still calling their games more than 50 years later, albeit on a limited schedule once he reached his 80s. His style of mixing wit with excellent broadcasting when the game dictated it never changed. He had his go-to jokes (about catching Phil Niekro’s knuckleball, his advice was “to wait until it stopped rolling and just pick it up”), but he could go many games without repeating a story.
Many Wisconsinites grew up listening to Uecker call games on transistor radios. It was tradition during the baseball season. Ask a Brewers fan of a certain age about Uecker’s call of a ninth-inning Easter Sunday comeback in 1987, the team’s 12th straight win to start the season, and they’ll probably recall exactly where they were. Uecker is the biggest, most popular figure in Brewers history — and second place isn’t close.
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At various points in his career, Uecker could’ve left Milwaukee for a bigger market. He did work for ABC and NBC, calling multiple postseason games, including some World Series contests. He didn’t have a formal contract with the Brewers for most of his career, just a series of handshake deals with team owners Bud Selig and Mark Attanasio. Yet he always stayed.
Milwaukee was happy to share their legend with the rest of the country.
Bob Uecker, during his time as St. Louis Cardinals catcher, clowns around during a workout by playing tuba near the bleachers at Busch Stadium before the start of Game 2 of the 1964 World Series. (AP Photo) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Uecker gained fame through Johnny Carson
Uecker became famous beyond baseball mostly because of Carson. Uecker got a big break when he opened for comedian Don Rickles at musician Al Hirt’s nightclub in Atlanta in 1969. Hirt set him up to appear as a guest on Carson’s show, via CBS News. That led to more than 100 appearances on Carson through the years. Carson is credited with giving Uecker the “Mr. Baseball” nickname.
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That opened doors for Uecker. The Miller Lite commercials (“I must be in the front row,” when Uecker is ushered out of his wrong seat, is his enduring line from them) were a huge success. Uecker then took his fame to another level playing Doyle in the 1989 film “Major League.” Spend enough time at a ballpark, and you’ll inevitably hear his famous, old line: “Juuust a bit outside.”
Despite all the fame outside the game, Uecker was a baseball lifer who happened to have a gift for comedy. That’s why he kept broadcasting on radio in one of the smallest markets in the majors, calling games for a team that hasn’t been to the World Series since 1982. He kept calling games through health scares that included two heart surgeries. He was so popular among Brewers players that they voted him a full playoff share of $123,000 from their postseason run in 2018. Uecker donated the money to charity. Few broadcasters are as synonymous with a sports franchise, and Uecker has a statue outside the Brewers’ stadium.
“I still enjoy doing the games,” he said in a 2020 interview with Bob Costas. “I still pull for us [the Brewers], every day. Every day. The other things that I’ve done, it always came back to baseball. I never wanted to do anything else.”
Baseball fans are happy Uecker never got too big for the sport. Brewers fans are happy he was never too big for Milwaukee.
Phillies, White Sox announcers perplexed by umpire’s ‘inexplicable’ call
The Philadelphia Phillies-Chicago White Sox game was marred by confusion over a strike call. The umpire, Charlie Ramos, didn’t call it that way, much to the dismay of Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos and booth broadcast booths. The White Sox catcher Korey Lee grounded out to first baseman Bryce Harper, not three pitches later, but it obviously points to a more significant problem at hand here. The Phillies were already leading 3-0 and handed Chicago its 17th loss of the season when the call was made. The game ended in a 3-1 Chicago victory, and the White Sox are now 3-16 in the American League. The Orioles-Kansas City Royals game was also called off because of an error by the umpire.
Recently, there’s been a lot of commentary about the umpiring across Major League Baseball, especially around balls and strikes. That bled into the Baltimore Orioles-Kansas City Royals game on Saturday, and it also reared its ugly head during the Philadelphia Phillies-Chicago White Sox game.
In the top of the third inning of Saturday afternoon’s game, Zack Wheeler dotted a strike in the top of the zone. It wasn’t a borderline, 50/50 call. It wasn’t on the outside corner or anything like that. It was clearly in the strike zone. But the umpire, Charlie Ramos, didn’t call it that way, much to the dismay of Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos and booth broadcast booths.
It didn’t matter, as White Sox catcher Korey Lee grounded out to first baseman Bryce Harper, not three pitches later, but it obviously points to a more significant problem at hand here.
Tom McCarthy and Ben Davis were confused by this call, to say the least.
“Nick Castellanos is wondering, like everyone else, where that pitch was,” the Phillies play-by-play voice said.
“Inexplicable,” added Davis.
“Nick Castellanos is wondering, like everybody else, where that pitch was.” “Inexplicable.” Tom McCarthy and Ben Davis were confused by this call, to say the least. pic.twitter.com/h9vly4nFDk — Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 20, 2024
Steve Stone and John Schriffen were no less perplexed on the Chicago side.
“I’m not exactly how that’s not a strike, but…”
“Hey, we’ll take it.”
“I’m not exactly how that’s not a strike but…” “Hey, we’ll take it.” “Korey Lee will definitely take it. That thing had the whole plate and it was down the middle.” Steve Stone and John Schriffen were no less perplexed on the Chicago side. pic.twitter.com/XZXPtUwABO — Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 20, 2024
Entering Saturday’s game at 3-16, the White Sox will undoubtedly take it. However, it didn’t help, as the Phillies were already leading 3-0 and handed Chicago its 17th loss of the season.
“Korey Lee will definitely take it,” said Stone. “That thing had the whole plate, and it was down the middle.”
Lee would later break up Wheeler’s no-hit bid with one out in the eighth inning.
However, the current strike zone system can be a source of frustration for players, fans, and commentators.
Not every call should be up for interpretation, especially when a pitch is right down the middle of the plate. Human error will happen; it’s part of the game, and so is stealing strikes and framing pitches, but inconsistency doesn’t sit well with anyone, and it’s nice to see both sides of the broadcasting booth admitting such instances.
[Awful Announcing on X]
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article did not identify the umpire by name. This has been corrected.
Phillies Fans Let Ex-Manager Gabe Kapler Hear It in First Inning
Former Phillies manager Gabe Kapler returned to Philadelphia on Monday. He was booed as he came out to the mound in the first inning of the Giants-Phillies series opener. Kapler’s two-year run in Philadelphia was marred by mediocrity, as the club finished at or just below .500 both seasons he was at the helm. He proved he wasn’t the man to take this club back to the World Series, and the organization was smart to move on from him before being locked into mid-level purgatory forever.
Kapler returned to town on Monday with his Giants for the first of three games, and he got the greeting everyone expected in the series opener.
A hearty round of boos for Gabe Kapler, who is making his first pitching change in the first inning of this series. — Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) August 21, 2023
Fans let Kapler hear it as he came out to the mound in the first inning of Monday’s contest. The Athletic’s Matt Gelb noted the former MLB outfielder received “a hearty round of boos,” showing it wasn’t just a few voices that spoke up at Citizens Bank Park.
Those in Philadelphia still being upset with Kapler is just another example of how deep fandom runs in the city. Fanbases in some areas may not even bat an eye at an ex-manager’s return, especially for one who still managed to win about half the games he was there — if anything, they might even celebrate those middling results.
But this is a city that lives and breathes championships, so it’s no wonder Phillies fans gave him a piece of their mind on Monday. He proved he wasn’t the man to take this club back to the World Series, and the organization was smart to move on from him before being locked into mid-level purgatory forever.
Just three years later, Philadelphia was on the cusp of another title, with interim manager Rob Thomson leading the clubhouse. Thomson’s proven much more successful in even less time than Kapler, and he’s done that without ever being a full-time skipper before.
Hopefully Kapler’s early visit to the mound on Monday is sign of things to come for his new squad. As of writing, the Phillies currently own a 3-2 lead over San Francisco.
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