'Disrespectful' umpire crew robs SF Giants of home run and shows how cursed team is

The SF Giants truly seem to be cursed. They keep on losing, their offense is anemic, and even when they do something right it doesn't go their way. Outfielder Heliot Ramos crushed a ball against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday that seemed like a no-doubt home run off the bat. Yet, the ball seemingly hit one of the catwalks at Tropicana Field which allowed the center fielder to catch the ball for an out.

The Giants challenged the call to see if the ball did hit the catwalks, but it seems like there was no definitive evidence that's what happened so the call stood. Several Giants coaches continued to argue the call after the replay and Director of Major League Pitching Frank Anderson was tossed by the umpires. So was pitcher Adrian Houser who was arguing as well.

The umpire crew really seemed to not like how upset San Francisco was by the call. Play-by-play broadcaster Dave Flemming thought that the home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt seemingly said, "Who do you think you are?" to manager Tony Vitello. "That's a little disrespectful if you ask me," Flemming said.

I'm no Jomboy, but my amateur lipread thought Wendelstedt said either, "What the [expletive] do you want?" or "Why the [expletive] are you whining?" to Vitello, but I could be wrong. No matter what, it probably was pretty disrespectful especially since the Giants had a legitimate gripe.

According to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, the, "Who do you think you are?" was directed at Anderson, not Vitello. Apparently the umpires also taunted Vitello and Anderson by referencing the fact that they come from the college ranks. Really classy stuff from Wendelstedt and Vic Carapazza. More like disrespectful and petulant.

SF Giants cannot catch a break as they get robbed by poorly constructed field

It was just such a weird play overall because even to the naked eye something seemed off. The center fielder went all the way back to the wall on the play and seemed to be acting like the ball would easily clear the wall, but at the last second he went back and caught the ball on the warning track. It definitely seemed like the trajectory of the ball was altered somehow. It wasn't wind because they are playing in a dome so it stands to reason that it must have hit something.

The batted ball data also suggested that it should have been a home run given the exit velocity and the launch angle. Initially Statcast said the ball should have traveled over 420 feet but that number dropped to 385.

Yet, that just seems to be San Francisco's luck right now. Usually a home run robbery is due to a great feat of athleticism from an outfielder, or sometimes an annoying fan, but this time it was literally a field and umpire crew that robbed them of a run. The Rays had to rebuild "The Trop" as it's known after a hurricane destroyed the dome a few years ago but it would have been nice if they made sure nothing would obstruct the ball when it's in play.

The fact that they don't have cameras that can show if a ball was impacted by the roof or any of the apparatus up there truly is bizarre and is something they should fix.

Maybe the Giants are due some good luck now. They've certainly been going the wrong direction for long enough so they are bound to get some good fortune eventually.

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