Hernandez hiding from reporters is no surprise at all. These guys are not held accountable for the quality of their work in any way, shape, or form by MLB, so why should he feel the need to explain himself to ANYBODY? The strike zones that we've seen from these sorry umpires this year are an absolute joke. But is anybody in the MLB structure gonna call them on it? Make them adhere to a strike zone that is clearly defined in the rule book? Of course not!! They never get disciplined for their behavior or their performance, so they have no sense of accountability to help motivate them to do a better job. To me, their overall performance gets worse by the year, and that will continue until MLB gets them under control and makes them perform up to some sort of standard.

I'd like to hear Hernandez's explanation of the strike zone. The rule book says the strike zone is from the knees to the armpits and from corner to corner of the plate. Hernandez either does not know the rule book definition or he obviously is not able to identify the proper body parts and/or the corners of the plate. His strike zone is quite wide.

Why do the Orioles pitchers and Trembley allow Michael Young to hit?

It was shown numerous times.He moved his left foot.It's a balk. Get over it.

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Pete's reply: Funny, the umpires told Trembley that he stepped toward the plate.

Unfortunately, I missed this on TV. Being a former amature baseball umpire for 15 years, normally this call is made by the first base umpire. If I was Trembley I would have questioned him first about why he didn't make the call. The first base umpire is looking right at it and has the better angle. Then I would have chewed out Angel.

Can't wait for the pregame meeting at home plate on Wednesday.

this looks interesting. it's angel hernandez's history. he seems to be extra sensitive to any affront to his absolute authority: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Hernandez_(umpire)

"..In a 1999 survey conducted by the Major League Baseball Players Association, Hernández was ranked 31st out of 36 National League umpires.[6] However, later that year Hernández was asked to return for the 2000 season while 13 of his NL colleagues were let go. Given his low ranking, the Philadelphia Inquirer termed the retention of Hernández one of the "surprises" of the 1999 purge.[7].."

i think the call was wrong. flatout. it unfairly decided the game. that being said i understand that umps make mistakes. but maybe there's something he saw that we didn't. i think it's fair to ask what he saw that we didn't. to not respond at all only hurts the integrity of the umpires because there's a perception of it being an imaginary arbitrary call. the fact that Walker also questioned his personal integrity with the gambling comment only further reinforces that view. that call just wasn't your ordinary garden variety missed call. at least most other missed cals has a germ of interpretation its based on. this one has nothing at all to support it.

Angel Hernandez changed the entire game with the balk call. I watch the replay a few times and still can't point out the balk. If that was a balk then every LHP balks every single time. Tp make matters worse was the strike three call on Melvin Mora to end the game. That call was far worse than the balk. The Angels never beat the Orioles it was Angel Hernandez that beat the Orioles. BTW, I umpired for over 20 years so I think I am qualified to know what a balk is.

No question the balk call affected the game, but the O's going into a mid-game scoring slump AGAIN is the loser here.

In an unrelated subject, checking our how last year's departed O's players are doing this year reveals that most of our departed major league starters are now in the minors elsewhere.

Pretty simple explanation. He hid because he reviewed the tape and realized he was wrong.

pretty gutless move.

Maybe he was too busy wiping off an Alomar-like spit job from Walker.

That umpire is a real dirtbag for not manning up and explaining why he did what he did. If he thought he was right he should have defended himself. Or if he knew he was wrong which I tend to believe he should have admitted that. Anytime someone hides or pulls that plead the 5th cop out you know they are usually guilty. They could have won that game in spite of that situation with some decent pitching but bad calls like that never help anything. Hopefully the team can build on this. Maybe some of that us against them stuff will get these guys going.

Same ole double standard... Man up and either admit you blew the call or at least tell us how you saw it... Players, managers are 100% accountable for wins and losses.. Umpires are NOT! While most of the calls are correct, too many are not. This is indefensible in my opinion.Basketball has 3 and the FB has 7 officials in a much faster paced game. The attitude of baseball umpires is terrible compared to the NFL and NBA. Bottom line is that the umpire blew the call, cost the orioles the game and Trembley was tossed and Walker will be fined and Hernandez gets to hide behind a closed door!

That was a HORRIBLE CALL!!!! I have watched it over and over and there is no way that was a balk. I was ready to jump through the TV and start arguing right there with Trembley! I just wish he had turned his hat around when he was arguing. haha GO O'S!!!

His strike 3 call on Mora to end the game was nearly as bad. Hopefully MLB reviews that game and keeps an eye on this ump.

You said it best Peter. If an umpire is going to make a call he'd better be able to explain it. There must be some level of minimal accountability among the umpires and giving his reason for the call to the media , especially for such a controversial call, should be an expectation. Hernandez should be pressured by MLB to stand up and explain his rationale behind calling a "balk" on Walker. And at the same time, Walker should be held accountable for his inappropriate and unprofessional remarks. If he needs to vent, let him do it in the clubhouse, not in front of the press. He'll take his medicine quietly, I'm sure.

But Angel Hernandez needs to be able to stand up and discuss his call without hesitation or, as in your post, people will question how comfortable he is with his call. Not that you can do anything about it at this point, but in a game where so much depends on the subjective perceptions of 4 men, there needs to be some transparency and some accountability. In such a situation, the integrity of the Umps has to be absolutely unimpeachable. Come on Hernandez-go explain yourself and stop hiding more than just your face and body behind your mask and chest protector!!

I don't know if they replayed it on the big screen but if they did he probably realized how horrible a call it was. No wonder he didn't want to talk to the media, he just pulled an Ed Hocculi. He should have answered the questions. He is paid a lot of money to get it right and if he doesn't, he should deal with the backlash.

Players are held accountable for their miscues through error statistics etc., but umpires are not. I know it is difficult to find good umpires, referees, and officials. But on the professional level, they should be marked for the errors. I know the NFL grades their officials and only the best get to officiate the playoffs. Does baseball do the same? On second thought, as bad as the NFL officials are, maybe we don't MLB to follow the NFL's lead on this one!!! Is there any answer for poor officiating?

Pete:
I'm disappointed that you, not so artfully, dodged the real question: was it a good call? It looked like a good move to first to me, but my knowledge is woefully lacking...
thanks

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Pete's reply: If the umpire had told Trembley that Walker twitched slightly with his left leg, I could see that, but then he would have called the balk a lot sooner. He said Walker stepped too much toward home plate. I believe that was incorrect, but I'm not really qualified to call a balk so I stayed away from a personal evaluation of the call.

Terrible call and a lack of ownership by the Commissioner's office yet again lets bad umpires continue to work. This guy is regularly the worst in the big leagues and has to go but he keeps getting trotted back out there. I have no patience for bad umpiring or officiating at all. Tough job? I don't want to hear it. Go work at Home Depot for hourly wages if you want an easy gig.

You generally defend umpires? They are the bane of professional sports. They dictate the outcome of more games (all sports) than anyone cares to dwell on. Why in the world are the games turning more and more to the instant replay? It's because these guys probably blow half their calls. Am I dreaming or are the O's now running themselves out of games? And has anyone else considered that the slow movement of the kids to the major league level may be because the FO is afraid they're stocked full of Daniel Cabrera's? What happens when they're all throwing like BB did in his second outing? The fundamental TRUTH is that the O's have lousy scouting....and that explains the past 11 seasons.

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Pete's reply: Yes, I defend the umpires. They generally do a great job. You only notice when they don't or you think they don't, and a lot of times when you think they don't, you look at the replay and they actually do. Did that make any sense?

It's amazing! No other umpire saw the balk. Usually 2 or 3 of them jump around like there are hot coals in their pants when there is a "real balk" but this time, I assume this must be one of our many minor league umpires that made this call. It truly was a Horse...... call. MLB needs umpires as badly as the O"s need pitching

That was no controversial balk. The experts on Baseball Tonight said it was a good call and Angel Hernandez did a great job seeing that. A balk is when a pitcher does anything to try and fool the runner. Even if the runner doesn't see it if an umpire sees it he can call a balk.

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Pete's reply: I watched the replays, and if the balk was when Walker's right leg twitched very subtlely, fine, but Hernandez told everyone on the field that he stepped toward the plate, which he didn't. If he did, the first base umpire should have called it because he would have had the angle. The home plate umpire has the wrong angle to call that.

"I'd like to hear Hernandez's explanation of the strike zone. The rule book says the strike zone is from the knees to the armpits and from corner to corner of the plate. Hernandez either does not know the rule book definition or he obviously is not able to identify the proper body parts and/or the corners of the plate. His strike zone is quite wide."

Not to be a prude... but that's not the strike zone. The strike zone's bottom is the knee cap... but the top is defined as the "midpoint between the shoulders and the belt." Generally, most people would put that slightly above the navel. Though, in MLB, it's generally called right on the belt.

Regardless, Angel's strikezone sucks.

I'd like to know where SevernDave bought his rulebook? (I'm referring to his April 29 post regarding the strike zone). The Major League Rulebook defines the top boundary of the strike zone as the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the belt... NOT the armpits. Don't know about you, but my armpits are much higher than that. Maybe you should read that book before you start beaking off and making a fool of yourself. Hernandez may rank fairly low in surveys of players... but I can assure you he knows a lot more about the strike zone than you do.