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Nationals announcer rips 'horrendous' umpire Angel Hernandez
Umpire Angel Hernandez. Sam Greene/The Enquirer via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Nationals announcer rips 'horrendous' umpire Angel Hernandez

Everyone's favorite umpire, Angel Hernandez, worked his first game of the season behind the plate this week, leading to a near meltdown from Washington Nationals color commentator Kevin Frandsen. 

Hernandez missed several calls during the Nationals' matchup with the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday, and Frandsen didn't hold back his criticism. After one debatable call went against Nationals' starter Mackenzie Gore, Frandsen said of Hernandez, "You cannot miss this bad," before, on queue, the very next pitch resulted in a home run. 

"You know what the difference between 1-2 and 2-1 is?" Frandsen said. "Well, let's try about 200 points on the average and over 340 on the slugging percentage. Literally with a horrendous call by Angel Hernandez." 

Hernandez is arguably the most vilified umpire in all of baseball and for a good reason. Earlier this week, he showed he can have a negative impact even when he's not calling balls and strikes. Hernandez blew a call at second, which clearly showed Nationals' Alex Call tagged out trying to steal. However, Hernandez ruled Call safe, forcing the Brewers to use a challenge to reverse the call. 

Hernandez had been out of action since April 3, reportedly nursing a back injury. But he is now cleared to return, much to the chagrin of pitchers, catchers and managers everywhere.

Mike Santa Barbara

Mike Santa Barbara is a Wilmington, Delaware native (Yes, it's a real place) with over a decade of sports writing experience. A diehard Philadelphia sports fan, he has two dogs named after Flyers and cried real tears when the Eagles won Super Bowl LII. You can follow him on Twitter at @mike__sb

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