By
Steve Kallas (posted by Rick Morris)
By
now, you’ve read about or seen the play:
Game 6, Tigers facing elimination, Top 6, Tigers up 2-1, Victor Martinez
at first, Prince Fielder at third, nobody out.
The Tigers have a big-time opportunity to get a few more runs and give
Justin Verlander the ball for Game 7.
Jhonny
Peralta hits a hard ground ball to second base.
Dustin Pedroia fields the ball and starts to throw home as Fielder is
running on contact. But Pedroia sees Martinez running toward him and
Fielder stops about halfway down the line.
So Pedroia tags Martinez (who goes on to the
infield grass trying to avoid the tag) and then throws home. Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia runs Fielder
back towards third and tags him out as he tries to avoid the tag.
HOW
DID TIM McCARVER ANALYZE THE PLAY?
Well,
here’s exactly what he said:
“That’s terrible baserunning by
Prince Fielder. He’s [Fielder]
gotta make Pedroia come home
with the ball before he [Pedroia}
can tag Martinez between first and
second. This plays right into
Pedroia’s hand.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen
this, Joe. Pedroia fakes home and now
goes home. They get Fielder in a rundown and
Saltalamacchia
finally makes the tag. Fielder has gotta come home, prevent
the tag between first and
second, but he stopped between first and
second (McCarver misspoke the
prior three words), between home
and third.
“You can’t make that
mistake. Pedroia made a brilliant play
for
the double play.”
WHAT
DID TIM McCARVER MISS?
Well,
that’s easy. While Fielder made a
terrible baserunning mistake (both he and manager Jim Leyland said he was
supposed to go on contact) by not continuing home once he left on contact,
Victor Martinez made a gigantic baserunning mistake that seems to have been
missed by everybody.
On
a ground ball to second, especially in a situation with runners on first and
third, the runner leaving first has to immediately make a judgment. In this particular situation, Martinez should have simply
stopped after one or two strides. In
other words, Martinez (not Fielder) gave
Pedroia the chance to make this improbable double play. If Martinez isn’t near Pedroia (and, again,
he certainly didn’t have to be), Pedroia probably throws home, probably gets
Fielder and then the Tigers have first and second with one out (in other words,
a chance to still score more runs).
If
Pedroia makes a mistake (unlikely) and doesn’t throw home, allowing Fielder to
score, he probably tags Martinez (after he runs the 10
feet or so separation there should have been between Pedroia and Martinez) and then flips to
first to get the double play. In that
case, Detroit is up 3-1 with two out
and nobody on.
This
is on Victor Martinez as much or more than on Fielder because, again, the
double play by tagging Martinez and throwing home is
IMPOSSIBLE if Victor Martinez isn’t near Pedroia. This mistake is what allowed Pedroia to make
the brilliant double play.
BUT
WAIT, THERE’S MORE, AS McCARVER TOTALLY GOT THIS WRONG
About
two minutes later, almost as an afterthought, Tim McCarver made this startling
statement about the amazing double play after a comment by Joe Buck:
“Yeah and the middle infielders
were playing at double
play depth, not in.”
Well,
not exactly.
There
are three (not two) ways to play the infield in this type of situation. First, you can play the infield in to have
the best chance to cut the run off at the plate (or make the runner stay at
third). Clearly the Red Sox did not do
that (nor did they want to as, obviously, it’s easier to get a base hit with
the infield in).
Second,
they could play the infield back, at double play depth, as McCarver mistakenly
said. In that situation, you essentially
concede the run to turn two. But, of
course, the Red Sox didn’t want to concede a run already down in a huge game in
the sixth inning.
The
third way to play the infield, and the way that the Red Sox DID play, is to
play the middle infielders “half way,” that is, not all the way up and not all
the way back. Both Pedroia and shortstop
Stephen Drew were well in front of the back of the infield dirt (or the
outfield grass, whichever you prefer).
In that case, when Pedroia fields the hard grounder by Peralta (and
then, in his judgment, he can come home and stop the run), he is virtually in
the base line between first and second and can tag out
Martinez running from first ONLY IF MARTINEZ MAKES THE BLUNDER OF RUNNING
TOWARDS PEDROIA.
Which,
of course, Martinez did.
The
position of the middle infielders before the ball is hit is readily apparent
from the wide-screen shot from behind home plate that was shown on the
replay. The reason you play your middle
infielders “half way” (and this has been done forever) is for precisely what
happened: the batter hits a very hard
ball right at the second baseman or shortstop.
That’s
exactly what happened and both Martinez AND Fielder had to make
base running blunders to have this amazing double play happen.
And
they both did.
ONE FINAL THING ON THE BASEBALL BRILLIANCE OF
DUSTIN PEDROIA MISSED BY THE “EXPERTS”
Baseball
is a very nuanced game, very interesting, often fascinating. Everyone understands how intelligent and
quick-thinking a player Dustin Pedroia is based on the double play he pulled
off.
But
if you want to understand brilliance on top of brilliance, watch the play
again. After Pedroia throws home and
Jerrod Saltalamacchia starts to run Prince Fielder back towards third, somebody
(usually the pitcher in this situation) has to run home and cover home plate in
case the rundown continues.
Who
is covering home as Saltalamacchia runs Fielder back to third?
Dustin
Pedroia, that’s who. Brilliance on top
of brilliance in an amazing baseball play.
Watch
the replay and draw your own conclusions with your own eyes. There’s plenty to see. You can learn a lot about baseball and the
nuances of baseball by watching this play.
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