Alex Cora threw a weird tantrum and was ejected over a correct call from umpire Pat Hoberg
When teams see umpire assignments, they know right away that they’re in for a long night when certain umps (i.e. Angel Hernandez, Brian O’Nora, Laz Diaz …) are scheduled to work behind the plate. Pat Hoberg is not one of those umpires.
That’s what made Red Sox manager Alex Cora’s tantrum on Tuesday night so strange.
While no human umpire can compete on a daily basis with an automated strike zone (ABS or robot umps), Hoberg is the one umpire to have a perfect game behind the plate … and he did so in he World Series. He’s not going to be perfect every night, but he has the credibility to call games as he sees it.
So, if a manager is going to freak out on Hoberg, he best be certain that Hoberg missed the call. Or else he’ll end up looking like Cora did here:
Alex Cora hasn't liked the strike zone tonight and it boiled over in a big way pic.twitter.com/A7JUmwjX33
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 23, 2023
During the seventh inning, Cora was furious when Mauricio Llovera’s 3-2 pitch to Alex Bregman was accurately called a ball. He came storming out of the dugout and drew a line around the plate to argue with Hoberg. Cora was quickly ejected. And though the frustration might not have been about that single pitch, Hoberg hadn’t missed a call in that half of the inning.
The Red Sox broadcast tried to frame the exchange as if Hoberg was having an off night, but his scorecard — though not his best performance — showed that his missed calls were borderline. He was consistently calling the lower edge of the zone as a ball, but otherwise, it was a fine outing that actually favored the Red Sox.
Umpire: Pat Hoberg
Final: Red Sox 3, Astros 7#DirtyWater // #Ready2Reign#BOSvsHOU // #HOUvsBOSMore stats for this game https://t.co/srqk9DvPND pic.twitter.com/Lbvy5s1ROx
— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) August 23, 2023
No wonder fans were perplexed by the whole tirade. It didn’t make sense.