Playoffs: Is this the year of the bonehead?
Last night, it was Matt Holliday muffing a relatively routine line drive to left field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. If he catches the ball, the NL Divisional Series between the Dodgers and Cardinals would be even going back to St. Louis. Instead, the Dodgers are in control and need to win just one of the next three games to advance to the National League Championship Series.
Tonight, Twins outfielder Carlos Gomez just made a huge baserunning error that cost his club both the final out of the fourth inning and a run that was about to cross the plate. Delmon Young was streaking home on a two-out single by Matt Tolbert when Gomez rounded second and fell down. That might have been forgiveable, but he tried to get up and return to second base, where he was tagged before Young crossed the plate.
It was a unusual sequence of events, but Gomez has to know that in that situation, he should be trying to continue on to third to protect the lead runner. The TBS broadcast crew criticized Gomez for even rounding the bag, but give center fielder Melke Cabrera credit for making a heads-up play and a perfect throw behind him.
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Comments
Nice job by choke artist Joe Nathan...you can take all those saves in the anemic AL Central and stuff them in a bag
I just can't believe he tried to get Texeira and ARod out with fastballs after not one twins pitcher had thrown either of them a fastball near the plate the whole game.
Bonehead.
Posted by: jim66 | October 9, 2009 9:50 PM
I guess a closer imploding like that is nothing new for O's fans...what a disappointing game for Joe Nathan, who has not-so-good post-season numbers.
Well, one bonehead bails out another.
I guess that track star speed can be dangerous, especially when coupled with baseball braincramp.
Posted by: jim66 | October 9, 2009 10:12 PM
What's the point of having an umire on the line in the outfield? Especially when the guy misses a call right in front of his nose. How many breaks are these scumbag skankees going to get????
Posted by: dave taylor | October 9, 2009 10:33 PM
jim66 , Do't be so tough on Nathan. Clearly, he didn't watch A-Rod and Tex take batting practice. LOL
Posted by: Ken Francis | October 10, 2009 12:50 AM
actually it was swisher who made the throw...
Posted by: release Bass | October 10, 2009 10:55 AM
Ken, I just couldn't figure out what the hell Nathan was trying to do. Those guys all had good numbers agains him and you think he might have tried something different than trying to throw fastballs by those guys. How much tape do you have to watch to figure out that's not gonna happen?
It took me back to the Benitez-Belle confrontation in the O's-Indians playoff series (in 97..98?). You just knew something was gonna give, and it was gonna be belle giving the ball a long ride into the bleachers.
Posted by: jim66 | October 10, 2009 11:02 AM
Reliance on a closer in baseball of late is hurting the game. Why not leave Garnier in there, he pitched a great 8th? Oh no, it's Joe "Bag of Nerves" Nathan's job. Awful. But not as awful as that blown call down the LF line. NFL football has trained spectators in such a way that we know blown calls will be corrected and that that play is "coming back". MLB just tries to sweep it under the rug by saying that human error is part of the game. No! It can't go on any longer like this!
Posted by: Brent | October 10, 2009 12:10 PM
Good point Dave -- they put the extra umps down the lines in the playoffs just for these plays and -- what? -- they blow it. Jeffrey Maier redux except not as blatant.
Posted by: Will | October 10, 2009 9:49 PM
At least we are getting to see who the real players are and the ones who can't play under pressure. I wouldn't trade Nolan Reimold straight up for Matt Holliday.
Holliday is a lumbering over-supplemented oaf. Let the Mets or some such idiotic team waste 20+ million on this "saviour"
Posted by: Cameron | October 11, 2009 3:42 AM
@ dave taylor -- They'll get as many calls as necessary -- just like the Pgh Dirty Birds got in the Stanley Cup semis last year.
BTW, nice to hear somebody else calling them "skankees".
Posted by: biased refs | October 12, 2009 9:15 PM