Hunter Wendelstedt Sucks

John Lannan made his major league debut for the Washington Nats Wednesday afternoon. He had trouble with control, but pitched relatively well. In the 5th, down 3-2 with an 0-2 count, a pitch got away from Lannan and he hit Chase Utley in the hand. Lannan tried to pitch the next batter Ryan Howard high and tight and hit him.

Two men on and no out, a tough proposition for a young pitcher. One that Lannan wouldn't face. Homeplate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt decided to throw Lannan out of the game. He claimed the rookie threw at Howard intentionally because their previous meeting resulted in a homerun.
Two men on and no out in a one run game in the pitcher's major league debut... there's no way Lannan threw at him intentionally! That is the horse shittiest call this side of Tim Donaghy. Maybe Wendelstedt had the under on how long the kid would last.

Mild-mannered manager Manny Acta argued the decision and was subsequently thrown out as well. The whole thing was just fucking terrible, compounded by the fact that the Nats' bullpen was thin thanks to a 14 inning affair the night before. Somehow the Nats battled back. Jesus Flores hit a 3-run homer off of Mike Bronco Zagurski to give the Nats a 7-5 lead. Chad Cordero closed the door in the 9th.

I used to have an umpire shitlist, but I don't know where it is. I do remember that Bob Davidson and Angel Hernandez were on there. Now I'll add Hunter Wendelstedt to that list. I guess Bruce Froemming is a rare commodity (good, fat-ass, anti-Semitic, major league umpires. Well, at least the "good" part. Watch out Ryan Braun).

Hunter Wendelstedt, major league douchebag.