Phillies' defeat of Cubs aided by one of worst strike-3 calls of all time

Thomas Lott

•
Phillies' defeat of Cubs aided by one of worst strike-3 calls of all time image

Home plate umpire Marty Foster is going to be hearing about this one for a while.

The Phillies defeated the Cubs, 4-2, on Tuesday and one strike call had an awful lot to do with it.

We'll show you it first and then give a little context.

First of all, Tony Kemp — who was at the plate for the Cubs — is 5-foot-6. He has a small strike zone. There is no way around it.

But even the most generous of umpires would not have called this a strike.

Need further proof? The Phillies' broadcast actually called out the strike call.

“Whata break that was for Phils.”

The call came with one out in the top of the ninth inning and a runner on second for the Cubs. After the strikeout, Hector Neris eventually got out of the inning. Had it not been for this call though who knows how this game would have gone.

"I think it was a ball," Kemp told reporters after the game, via ESPN. "(But) Everybody makes mistakes, nobody's perfect."

Foster's call was bad.

But to be fair, it might not be the worst third strike of all time. That call probably came in 2013 on Joe Nathan's 300th career save.

Unfortunately for Foster — and we can't make this up — that call in 2013 was made by none other than himself.

He apologized for the call at the time.

"I saw the pitch and of course don't have the chance to do it again, but had I had a chance to do it again, I wouldn't call that pitch a strike," he said, via The Guardian.

He may be in line for another apology after his call Tuesday.

 

Thomas Lott