Thursday, May 27, 2010

That Which Cannot Be Undeleted

So I had a whole post written about the Jays defense, about how despite the team's ability to strike chumps out, take chumps deep, and change speeds on a chump; their bad habits will catch up. Especially if they commit all three of their egregious sins (walking guys, refusing to walk themselves, and playing slightly shitty defense) at the same time. Unfortunately, that post was track-padded into the internet ether (no thanks to YOU chromecacheview, you Russian piece of shit) so I'm left with this defensive tangent.

Instead, we will play the "What If?" game. Think back to Alex Gonzalez's excellent defensive play yesterday: the whole which saved the game. It saved the game briefly, but oh what could've been. Watch the video, play extra close attention to second base around the 30 second mark. Look for what you see below (screengrabbed from MLBAM.)



With the bases loaded and one out, Juan Rivera stopped between second and third base then RETURNED to second base. The throw obviously went home (to save the game) but what couldda shouldda wouldda happened next.

To recap: John BuckJose Molina prepares to throw to first to complete the double play, having recorded the force at home. Erick Aybar nearly reaches second base, Howie Kendrick takes off his batting gloves having reached first base an instant after making contact. But there is poor Juan Rivera, a mere 10 feet from from second base, 80 feet from safety. Our hero Aaron Hill unfortunately demonstrates the evils of ball watching.

A weird example for sure, but an interesting game of What If? What If Aaron Hill notices Juan Rivera standing frozen on the base path? What If his shouts and gestures catch BuckMolina's glance, even for a second? What If John BuckJose Molina sees Rivera's fat frame lumbering near the base out of the corner of his own eye?

Extremely unlikely during the tense potential last play of the game. It's entirely possible Edwin Encarnacion didn't move an inch when the ball was hit, he simply enjoyed the view just like Aaron Hill. But still, a toss to third gets Rivera by 40 feet, ends the inning, prolongs the game. O! Drama!

11 comments:

  1. Buck = Molina

    But yeah, it was a rush to watch on TV. Too bad it didn't go to extras :\

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  2. @anon

    The hilarious irony of it all being that Molina was brought in that inning as a defensive replacement.

    And Cito brought in a pinch runner too!

    This is all proof that Cito shouldn't bother with those silly substitutions and go back to the Citocity.

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  3. Based on the replay at the Jays' site, it looked like Encarnacion was standing right on top of 3rd as Molina was hurrying the throw to 1st, as well. Rivera was completely dead there, inning ending mistake...

    Perhaps most frustrating though is the fact that nobody seems to be talking about it/nobody seems to have noticed it even now. Buck/Rance didn't mention it, though I had caught it myself on the first replay. No reaction from any of the players on the field, either, though to be fair we never saw a shot of E5 who most certainly SHOULD have noticed it. Tough way to lose all around.

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  4. What a fucking play by Gonzalez. I squealed like a school girl in the stands.

    When it went down, I didn't notice Hill's enjoying the view. Perhaps Aaron got caught up in what was a great play, like everybody else. But, that being said, way to catch it, Drew. Good eye.

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  5. I changed all the Bucks to Molinas. To be fair, even Jerry said Buck on the radio.

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  6. I missed the play unfold live, so I can't really judge this very well - but I can't really fault Molina for throwing to first after the force out at home.

    However, if Hill noticed Rivera lollygagging on the basepaths he should have piped up and said something.

    The only danger in that though is that the throw to second has to be dead on the money, but with Molina I don't think that would've been a problem.

    Oh, what could have been!

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  7. I definitely don't fault anybody for it, it was just an interesting case.

    Don't forget Ian, the throw only had to be to third base for the force. No tags, no mess.

    Drew

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  8. To be fair, Encarnacion would've fucked it up somehow. That, or he would've turned it into a quadruple play. That's how Enigma5 do.

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  9. SP: eat a dick.

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  10. Ah well if we did not have E5 hitting anythign in, it would remind me of a right fielder from our past who was dogging it. Have to write this one off as not exactly a heads up play.

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  11. Overbay should have sent it over to third, he might have had a chance at him.

    But the thing is you don't expect rivera to make such a retarded mistake. So it's hard to cognitively understand the situation quickly.

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