Game #31: A's 3, Rays 2
May 6, 2006 | A's vs. Tampa Bay
Disclaimer: I may be wholly unqualified to discuss this afternoon's game. But the A's win! As weird and wacky as it was, we'll take it!
Weird play #1
Dan Johnson at-bat in the bottom of the 2nd, two outs. Jay Payton had already reached first on a line drive single that didn't quite get into Rays CF Joey Gathright's glove. DJ was at ball three, but he starts walking to first base. Naturally, JayPay proceeds to second.
But Rays starter Seth McClung signals to the umpire that it's only ball three. McClung turns around and sees Payton trotting past, effectively stealing second base.
It's JayPay's first steal of the season and he admitted the easiest steal he'd ever done. To make it less painful for the Rays, DJ gets a fourth ball and walks to first for real.
Weird play #2
Not even MLB. com's Gameday put a play-by-play for the bottom of the 9th as of this writing. All I can describe is what I gleaned from watching TV, seeing the instant replays, and listening to Ray Fosse and Ken Korach on a combination of TV and radio.
JayPay is on second. DJ is on first. Rays RHP Chad Orvella is pitching to Scutaro, then he's replaced in the middle of the at-bat by RHP Tyler Walker. Scutaro pops up towards Rays SS Julio Lugo.
The umps do not invoke the infield fly rule. Lugo allows the ball to drop. This freezes the runners. JayPay runs for third, but won't make it as Lugo throws to Rays 3B Aubrey Huff. DJ is out. Now JayPay is in a rundown. He slides back to second where Scutaro is already standing. The ump declares "safe." Who's safe? It's Payton.
It's not a classic double play, but a double play nonetheless because there were two outs. For those scoring at home, it's 6-4-5-6-4. I'm not even going to pretend that I understand fully what happened.
Weird play #3
Then to make matters worse for the Rays, Kendall comes up to bat. You know, Kendall, the guy who's aura attracts weird game-ending plays. He makes contact, but it's a routine groundout that goes through Huff's legs. E5! Payton easily crosses homeplate for the third run in the bottom of the 9th. Game over.
My biggest regret today is that I didn't go to this game. This would've been one of those afternoons where going to the Coliseum on a whim wouldn't have been out of the question. But I didn't want to go by myself... What I need is a hotlist of people I can call upon at the last minute to spontaneously go to a game.
If you don't mind receiving a call from me 24 hours or less before a game start to see if you're interested in hustling to the Coliseum, ask to be put on my hotlist. Just because I ask, there's no obligation to actually go especially if you cannot do it! But I need to differentiate between those baseball friends who require advance planning and those who can drop whatever they're doing and head to the ballpark. By the way, my mother is on my hotlist, but she's out of town today.
Also of note:
(Game experience: Intermittent TV watching on FSNBA, then listened to KYCY 1550 and looked at MLB Gameday and ESPN Recap after.)
A's record: 16-14 | streak: W-1 | well-A-meter: 4
Disclaimer: I may be wholly unqualified to discuss this afternoon's game. But the A's win! As weird and wacky as it was, we'll take it!
Weird play #1
Dan Johnson at-bat in the bottom of the 2nd, two outs. Jay Payton had already reached first on a line drive single that didn't quite get into Rays CF Joey Gathright's glove. DJ was at ball three, but he starts walking to first base. Naturally, JayPay proceeds to second.
But Rays starter Seth McClung signals to the umpire that it's only ball three. McClung turns around and sees Payton trotting past, effectively stealing second base.
It's JayPay's first steal of the season and he admitted the easiest steal he'd ever done. To make it less painful for the Rays, DJ gets a fourth ball and walks to first for real.
Weird play #2
Not even MLB. com's Gameday put a play-by-play for the bottom of the 9th as of this writing. All I can describe is what I gleaned from watching TV, seeing the instant replays, and listening to Ray Fosse and Ken Korach on a combination of TV and radio.
JayPay is on second. DJ is on first. Rays RHP Chad Orvella is pitching to Scutaro, then he's replaced in the middle of the at-bat by RHP Tyler Walker. Scutaro pops up towards Rays SS Julio Lugo.
The umps do not invoke the infield fly rule. Lugo allows the ball to drop. This freezes the runners. JayPay runs for third, but won't make it as Lugo throws to Rays 3B Aubrey Huff. DJ is out. Now JayPay is in a rundown. He slides back to second where Scutaro is already standing. The ump declares "safe." Who's safe? It's Payton.
It's not a classic double play, but a double play nonetheless because there were two outs. For those scoring at home, it's 6-4-5-6-4. I'm not even going to pretend that I understand fully what happened.Weird play #3
Then to make matters worse for the Rays, Kendall comes up to bat. You know, Kendall, the guy who's aura attracts weird game-ending plays. He makes contact, but it's a routine groundout that goes through Huff's legs. E5! Payton easily crosses homeplate for the third run in the bottom of the 9th. Game over.
My biggest regret today is that I didn't go to this game. This would've been one of those afternoons where going to the Coliseum on a whim wouldn't have been out of the question. But I didn't want to go by myself... What I need is a hotlist of people I can call upon at the last minute to spontaneously go to a game.
If you don't mind receiving a call from me 24 hours or less before a game start to see if you're interested in hustling to the Coliseum, ask to be put on my hotlist. Just because I ask, there's no obligation to actually go especially if you cannot do it! But I need to differentiate between those baseball friends who require advance planning and those who can drop whatever they're doing and head to the ballpark. By the way, my mother is on my hotlist, but she's out of town today.
Also of note:
- Good Zito showed up at the mound.
- Joe Kennedy is amazing. He kept the Rays from scoring in the top of the 9th despite loading the bases.
- Today is Nick Swisher bobblehead day! They made two versions because he's a switch hitter. He's reached base safely in the last 25 games.
(Game experience: Intermittent TV watching on FSNBA, then listened to KYCY 1550 and looked at MLB Gameday and ESPN Recap after.)
A's record: 16-14 | streak: W-1 | well-A-meter: 4
posted by blank book at 4:57 PM
4 Comments:
The Scutaro double play actually went 6-4-5-4 (I double checked it on TiVo). The shortstop made a very smart baseball play by allowing the ball to drop rather than catching it. The umpire had the option to invoke the infield fly rule, but he did not react quickly enough, as the ball was in the air only for a brief moment. The first out was the 6-4 force out of DJ at second. Payton was then trapped in a rundown between second and third. He succeeded in getting back to second base without getting tagged. But Scutaro hustled all the way to second (which is the proper play for him). With Payton and Scutaro both occupying second, the lead runner (Payton) is secure at the bag but the trailing runner (Scutaro) is vunerable to be tagged out since he shares the same base as the lead runner. Had Payton been tagged out in the rundown, Scutaro would be entitled to stay at second (assuming that he's not tagged out before reaching the base). This could have been a triple play if the Rays tagged Payton quickly during the rundown and then nail Scutaro trying to advace to second. I remember similar play in Oakland sometime in the 1980's where one out was made and two runners were occupying second base. The secondbaseman tagged both runners standing on second, getting out number 2 on the trailing runner. The lead runner, thinking HE was out, started walking toward the dugout. The secondbaseman, still holding the ball, alertly tags the wayward lead runner and got the triple play.
The Scutaro double play is not really rare because it occurs once in every few thousand games. :) What was truly weird to me was that it happened twice, both to Bay Area teams, within hours of each other.
About 3 hours later, in the Giants' 8th inning, Feliz singles and Bonds singles. Finley's ground ball hits Bonds for the first out without Feliz advancing, so there's still runners on 1st and 2nd with one out.
Niekro hits a soft liner just to the left of second base. Phillies' SS Rollins deliberately drops it, throws out Finley at second and Feliz, who is not nearly the baserunner that Payton is, was tagged out between 2nd and 3rd.
I had heard of this play and was aware of its occurrence in the past, but Saturday I saw it for the first time in the major leagues, not once, but twice.
I found that I understood the A's weird play #2 better when I talked it through twice with others. I guess I still don't understand a few things: (a) what would've happened if Lugo did catch the ball, (b) or what would've happened if the umps called the infield fly rule which I need explained to me again, and (c) what would've happened if Scutaro stayed at 1st.
a) If Lugo caught the ball, then there would be no force out of DJ at second base. But Payton would have to get back to second base before the ball gets there, otherwise HE would be be the second out.
b) If the infield fly rule is called, Scutaro is called out immediately, even if the ball is dropped. The runners have the option to try to advance at their own risk, but there are no force outs anywhere as the batter is already called out.
c) Had Scutaro stayed at first, he would be safe. But the reason Payton tried to stay in the rundown as long as he could is so Scutaro could advance to second. Most rundowns result in the trapped runner getting tagged out. In this case, the trapped runner, Payton, survived. But Scutaro, who was also on second base, became vunerable.
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