We've been playing this game for more than a century, and
this has never happened before. But there's no reason it's out of order with the rules; it's just a thing that never happens, until it does, one afternoon in May.
It's a pretty neat game, really. I don't watch it often, but every time I do I appreciate it anew.
9 comments:
Wow, that was... incredible? The first baseman shouldn't even be in the pros if he's going to play that badly. Not that it matters much to me anymore, as I don't watch MLB now.
My husband and I ran across references to this separately and met in the hallway coming to tell each other about it. I have MLB.tv so I watched the inning from the beginning using the Pittsburgh feed. That made it even funnier because the announcers were interviewing the Pirates bench coach who is talking about how no one likes to lose but the players are giving it their all, playing their best, plus the announcers are talking about how the bench coach is at the top of everyone's list for a managerial job - and suddenly ...
Sadly, they ended the interview when this play happened - I would have loved to hear the bench coach talk about this although I imagine the station would have had to bleep out a lot of his commentary. (My husband makes the point that first base is where you put guys who don't need to know the rules. :+)
The first baseman shouldn't even be in the pros if he's going to play that badly
Don't forget about the second baseman who should have been covering first instead of standing with his thumb...somewhere. Or the catcher who couldn't make an accurate throw (I have to wonder how many stolen bases he's given up). Or the right fielder who was acting more like a fan than an actual player backing up the infield to take the bad throw/bad catch so as to get the hitter at second. Not that that would have mattered since the shortstop just lackadaisically namby-pambied the throw and didn't catch it.
So many Pirate errors, so little time.
And kudos to the hitter for drawing the first baseman onto him.
Eric Hines
I'm glad you said that, Eric, because I looked to me that while the first baseman might not have made the best play, he was probably making the best of a bad situation. I couldn't tell if he'd positioned himself badly or if the throw from third was poor but I thought he did do a good job of pushing the runner back while still being in position to get the ball to the catcher in a reasonable fashion before the runner came home from third, even if the catcher missed the tag. The catcher could have made a decent throw if the second baseman or pitcher had hustled over to first.
But the first baseman was between the base and the runner when he (the first baseman) caught the ball. And there were already 2 outs. So all the first baseman had to do was take 2 steps back to first base and the runner is out and the inning is over. Maybe the other players looked like statuary because it never occurred to them they would be needed - or they were in shock, wondering what the heck the first baseman was doing.
What Elise said.
I wasn't clear on how many outs there were, but the run scorer came from second. Had the first baseman taken his two steps back to first and stepped on it, the runner never would have gone past third, had there been fewer than two outs.
And there's never any excuse for players to do their statue impressions. This sort of situation is precisely why players have backup assignments and hustle to execute them.
Eric Hines
Yes, two outs is decisive, though the point about making it simpler even with fewer outs is also valuable.
Just step on the base. Everything else is irrelevant.
If you like your baseball live with some history, the Greenville SC field is built to the dimensions of Fenway Park, including a Green Monster. Not too far from you, Grim.
That's true. Greenville is just down the hill a ways.
It got even worse after that play. The next batter hit a single and the Artful Dodger got home on it, another run scored. A compounded error.
Post a Comment