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Joe West has had a hectic 2021 away from the stadium, but the famous MLB referee was back to some of his old ways behind the Phillies’ victory plate over the Mets on Friday night.
To set the tone early, West called a shot on a lead well outside Phillies pitcher Kyle Gibson to Mets outfielder Dominic Smith early in the first inning. He was quickly noticed on social networks.
West held on to his extended strike zone and called the third strike on a similarly placed lead from Gibson to Brandon Nimmo in the third.
The Mets ultimately lost to the Phillies, 4-2, to drop first place for the first time in 90 days, however, it was hardly West’s fault. Amid a long streak of offensive struggles, the Mets failed to capitalize when they filled in goals with no outs in the fourth inning and ended the night 1v8 with runners in scoring position.
In May, West broke the record for most matches refereed, surpassing Hall of Famer Bill Klem. The 68-year-old has said he plans to retire after this season.
Just a month before cementing himself further in MLB history, West was awarded $ 500,000 in a libel lawsuit against former Mcatcher Paul Lo Duca. In 2019, West sued Lo Duca after the former Met started a podcast and said his former New York teammate reliever Billy Wagner bribed the longtime referee to give him one more. large strike zone by letting him use his vintage 1957 Chevrolet.
“Joe loves vintage cars, so every time he comes into town I lend him my Chevrolet 57 so he can drive it and he opens up the strike zone for me,” Lo Duca said on the Action Network podcast. .
It was revealed in MLB records that West was the home plate umpire for only one Mets game in the two seasons Lo Duca and Wagner were teammates at Flushing, but Wagner did not pitch in that game in particular.
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