Phillies’ Joe Girardi stews over umpire Jose Navas’ ‘terrible’ game-turning call

A blown call at a terrible time left Phillies manager Joe Girardi agitated Saturday night.

Girardi was livid over second base umpire Jose Navas calling Andrew McCutchen out for leaving the baseline on a double-play attempt by the Mets’ Francisco Lindor in the seventh inning. In both live-action and on replay, McCutchen appeared to keep running, and then sliding, in a straight line. Philadelphia was denied an opportunity at having the go-ahead run in scoring position.

Philadelphia went on to lose 5-4 on a ninth-inning home run by New York’s Michael Conforto.

“That was about as straight of a line as you could run,” Girardi said. “(Navas) said (McCutchen) left the baseline. It’s a terrible call, right? And to me, the sad thing about it is it’s not reviewable because it’s a judgment? Well, I’m sorry. That’s about as clear as it can be, and it might have cost us this game.”

Girardi knows that the call wasn’t going to be reversed even with the help of video.

“They’re never going to overrule that. They’re just not,” he said. “It’s on the screen as clear as day. The idea is to get the calls right, right? You see it on the screen like that, just reverse it. But I’m sure their team would go crazy.

“But that’s the sad part about it, right? Because there’s so much at stake at every game, right? And I know people say, ‘Well, it’s April.’ Well, we were one game from making the playoffs last year, right? And it was September. It’s just unfortunate.

“I just don’t know what he could have possibly seen.”

There has been no comment from Navas or the other three umpires. Navas is filling in for crew chief Dan Iassogna, who was off for the first two games of this series Friday and Saturday. 

Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper, who was also getting Saturday off, was ejected for arguing from the dugout.

And if Navas’ misjudgment wasn’t bad enough, first base umpire Andy Fletcher got the play at first base wrong. He called Matt Joyce, who hit the one-hop liner to Lindor, safe in real-time. The Mets challenged the call; replay clearly showed Joyce was out.

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