A few caveats out of the gate here. Umpiring, especially behind the plate, is extraordinarily difficult and Major League Baseball employs some incredibly talented individuals to do it. And the strike zone box that appears on television is far more specious and arbitrary than most viewers think, especially when it comes to the bottom and top of the zone. But even with those concessions, home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi did not have his best night on Monday working behind the dish in the Philadelphia Phillies-San Francisco Giants game.
After expanding the zone on Bryce Harper in the top of the eighth with the score knotted at 1-1, Cuzzi watched three Orion Kekering pitches to Matt Chapman potentially get a decent part of the zone without busting out a strike three call in the bottom of the frame.
