Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez Blast Mets-Dodgers Rule Flap

The New York Mets broadcast crew — widely considered the gold standard for baseball announce teams — justifiably lost its collective mind late Saturday during a bizarre controversy in which the umpires didn’t seem to know a rule they were trying to enforce.

The wild incident happened in the ninth inning of the New York Mets’ 9-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Down by five runs, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts did not want to tax his regular bullpen pitchers in a game he evidently did not believe his team could win. So he tried to hand the ball to utility man Zach McKinstry — only a new rule dictates that a team must be trailing by at least six runs before it can use a regular player as a pitcher. With the Dodgers only down five, they were required to bring in a proper reliever.

But lots of confusion ensued about the ruling. The umpires held a long conference, in which they coordinated with Major League Baseball’s replay center in New York. No one appeared to have a clue about what to do.

After a delay of several minutes, Mets analyst Keith Hernandez snapped.

“Look at this!” Hernandez said. “This is absurd!”

At one point, crew chief C.B Buckner turned on his mic to announce the ruling. Only, he appeared staggeringly confused about what he was saying.

“We … by …” Bucknor said — his words trailing off as he scratched his chin and took a lengthy pause.

Eventually, he finished his thought.

“By rule, a position player cannot come in to pitch unless they are down by more than six runs,” Bucknor said.

By then, the restless Dodger Stadium crowd cascaded the field with boos, and Mets skipper Buck Showalter jumped out of the dugout to argue — as the umpires allowed the new replacement, Evan Phillips, to warm up in the bullpen before being called in.

“They should not give the pitcher adequate warm-up time,” Mets play-by-play broadcaster Gary Cohen explained. “They should just give him the eight [pitches] from the mound … This is totally wrong!”

At that point, as the delay continued to drag on, and Phillips was given a full compliment of warm-up tosses, the Mets announcers lost it.

“Come on!” Hernandez said. “Make a Custer decision here!”

“This is so embarrassing for Major League Baseball!” Cohen said. “Truly embarrassing!”

“Cue the clown music,” added Ron Darling, the third Mets announcer.

Watch above, via SNY.

Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com