Welcome to a different version of 5 Issues I Appreciated (Or Didn’t Like) This Week. The parenthetical a part of the title is basically only a nod to Zach Lowe, whose ESPN basketball column impressed this one. He sometimes mentions flaws or foibles holding a selected workforce or participant again, in lovingly GIF’ed up element. I’m extra of a rah-rah kind, and loads of weeks I don’t have a single Didn’t Like within the column in any respect. This week, although, I can’t assist it; psychological lapses, baserunning errors, and general sloppiness are everywhere in the column. That’s to not say I don’t love watching it, as a result of a part of what’s enjoyable about baseball is when a theoretically staid sport will get messy, however let’s be clear: A whole lot of these performs are usually not good performs. We’ve obtained superstars getting confused, on-field collisions, and absolute howlers. Let’s get began.
1. The Profligate Nationals
The Nats are one of many unheralded enjoyable tales of the baseball season. They’re hanging round .500 and enjoying like higher days are forward. CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore appear like franchise mainstays. James Wooden, one other a part of the return from the Juan Soto commerce, isn’t far off. Mitchell Parker and Jake Irvin is likely to be mid-rotation starters. Jacob Younger is an elite defender. They’ve loads of attention-grabbing function gamers, and the entire workforce performs with reckless and joyful abandon.
That’s significantly true on the basepaths, the place the Nats rank third in steals however solely eleventh in whole baserunning worth. They’re at all times angling for the right way to advance one other base, regardless of the prices. Generally that ends in tears.
Once they confronted off with the woeful Rockies in Denver this week, fireworks had been a certainty. However the Nats tried their greatest to offer away a few of their offense. First, Abrams grabbed a handful of glove as a substitute of base:
Hey, unhealthy luck, that might occur to anybody. However then Nick Senzel, theoretically an elder statesman on the workforce, obtained misplaced between second and third at an inopportune time:
That was a heads up defensive play, however nonetheless! It’s one factor to get thrown out on an in depth play contesting a precious base, and one other to wander into an inning-ender.
All of the baserunning blunders on the earth weren’t going to cease Washington from successful that sport; they poured it on inning after inning and received 11-5. However the subsequent day’s over-exuberance proved extra pricey. First Eddie Rosario tried for a bit an excessive amount of in opposition to Nolan Jones:
Within the seventh, Abrams obtained a poor soar and couldn’t fairly bail himself out with pure velocity:
Later in the identical inning, Lane Thomas additionally got here up quick:
The Nationals nonetheless scored seven runs, however they wanted a couple of extra. This sport is the one which led to a walk-off pitch clock violation, nevertheless it didn’t need to get to that time. Over-exuberant baserunning turned that sport from a laugher into an in depth contest, and Kyle Finnegan did the remaining.
To be trustworthy with you, a part of what’s been so enjoyable about watching these Nats is identical factor that’s maddening about watching them. It’s exhausting to knock them for working into outs once they’re additionally working into steals and hustle doubles. This isn’t a lot a criticism as an announcement of reality. The Nationals run an excessive amount of, for higher or worse.
2. Juan Soto’s Befuddlement
It’s no secret that I’m an enormous Juan Soto fan. I like the way in which he holds courtroom at residence plate, the sensation that pitchers are asking him inquiries to a check that he has all of the solutions to, and his pleasant antics all through the plate look. The shuffle, the grimace, the appreciative nod; you’ll be able to nearly see the gears turning as he works his method into an advantageous rely after which unloads on simply the pitch he was ready for.
That’s the best Soto plate look. I’m right here to speak about one which was decidedly not that. First, David Peterson obtained referred to as for a pitch timer violation:
Recognizing Soto a free ball is a horrible thought. It obtained worse (or higher in the event you’re into hilarious post-pitch stretching) from there:
That’s not a lot a shuffle as a straddle. In case you’ll be able to’t bear in mind what his regular post-take conduct seems like, right here’s the 2-0 pitch:
You most likely know what comes subsequent. On 3-0 counts, Soto picks one space to search for and lays in wait. If he doesn’t get it, he simply strikes on to the following pitch. However this time was totally different:
Uh, what? I really didn’t count on to see that. Certain, the pitch was a strike, however why was he attempting to bunt? The superb consequence when bunting is reaching first base and advancing the runner, however he’s Juan Soto! A stroll accomplishes that simply as properly, and the chances of a stroll are excessive certainly when Soto will get this far forward within the rely. It’s not that he’s a foul bunter – he’s six for his final seven by way of changing bunts into hits – however this was not the rely for that tactic.
That weird selection appeared to offer Peterson new life. He promptly poured in an ideal strike, which Soto acknowledged with a enjoyable little lean:
That introduced up the payoff pitch, and identical to you’d count on, Soto managed to work the stroll. The one factor was, he didn’t understand it:
That’s a sight I by no means thought I’d see: Soto not realizing that he’d walked. What number of instances do you suppose an umpire has needed to urge him to take his free base?
This makes the bunt try make a bit extra sense, a minimum of. Soto probably obtained the rely blended up due to the first-pitch clock violation. If he thought he was forward 2-0 as a substitute of 3-0, a bunt makes a minimum of a little extra sense. It was nonetheless a befuddling sequence, although. Naturally, he put that nonsense behind him and racked up one other stroll and a homer within the sport. Soto isn’t confused – however even when he’s, he often will get the job carried out.
3. Shohei Touches Them All
Some issues are simply meme-worthy. It doesn’t even need to be deep, I assume. What extra can I say about this one? The foundations of baseball say that you need to contact all of the bases with a view to rating, whether or not you’re advancing the common method or trotting round after a house run. Each baseball participant is aware of that rule. Very hardly ever do they nearly neglect it:
Clearly, Shohei Ohtani isn’t any stranger to residence runs. What might short-circuit his mind a lot that he forgot the right way to behave after hitting one? First, he didn’t suppose he obtained all of it:
That’s not a ache grimace, it’s an “oh no that ball isn’t going to get out” grimace. That trot was a mix of courtesy run and cliffhanger viewing. He even saved the bat in his hand in case he was going to move again to the dugout with it. He typically does that on fly balls the place there’s no query of needing to dash. It’s one other little Ohtani idiosyncrasy, like warning the dugout when he hits a foul ball their method.
This time, he realized proper round first base that he hit a house run. That meant it was time to throw the bat away and change into a house run trot. He turned to apologize to the primary base coach for dropping the bat in honest territory, as a result of he’d carried it too far whereas watching the ball:
Then his instincts kicked in and informed him one thing was amiss. It’s an odd place to be with a bat. How did he get there? What else will need to have gotten out of sequence to finish up on this spot? He surmised that lacking first base was on the desk – I can’t inform if somebody was yelling at him to return or not – and so went again to seal the deal. However plot twist – he did contact it the primary time:
What a man. It’s very like Ohtani to have his mistake be not trusting himself to do every part proper within the first place. He was appropriately chagrined within the dugout afterward:
Bonus Ohtani residence run content material: I completely cherished Erick Fedde’s response to this clobbered leadoff job. I’d do the very same factor in his scenario:
4. These Woeful White Sox
I hate to kick a workforce when it’s down, however you’ll be able to’t give an trustworthy accounting of baseball this 12 months with out mentioning the plight of the South Siders. Final Friday, they discovered themselves locked in a pitching duel as Fedde and Jack Flaherty exchanged environment friendly innings. Fedde ended up going seven innings and solely permitting two runs. Flaherty obtained into a bit hassle within the third inning, after which he made a giant mistake. He grooved a two-strike fastball to Luis Robert Jr., one of the aggressive hitters in baseball. Improbably, Robert simply watched it fly by for a referred to as strike three:
You possibly can see that Robert by no means even began his swing. One thing occurred throughout his load, and he simply left his foot hanging there, not monitoring the pitch, till it was far too late to swing. He’d given up on the pitch. What occurred? He noticed Tommy Pham get essentially the most outrageous soar you’ll be able to think about:
You realize it’s a very good soar when you’ll be able to stutter step, sluggish to a trot, and nonetheless beat the throw standing up. Clearly, Robert’s instincts simply overrode his mind there. He noticed his teammate get the very best lead in baseball historical past and thought, “No matter I do, I can’t foul the ball off right here.” That’s as computerized as a steal will get. Robert swinging might solely intervene with it. However you’ll be able to’t do this with two strikes. There are two strikes!
That’s an error of fine intentions – Robert’s coronary heart was in the correct place, however his instincts had been too absolute. Nevertheless, the Sox ended the sport with one which was extra emblematic of the way in which this season has been going. Paul DeJong obtained hit by a pitch with one out within the ninth inning, placing the tying run on base. Andrew Benintendi got here into the sport as a pinch hitter and flied out harmlessly to middle:
That was the final play of the sport. Sure, there was just one out. No, it wasn’t suspended because of climate, even supposing a lightning warning had cleared out many of the followers already. DeJong simply forgot what number of outs there have been:
There’s no sugarcoating that one. It’s only a psychological mistake. That’s what occurs once you’re successful a 3rd of your video games and making a run on the all-time losses file. It’s powerful on the market proper now.
5. A Novel Anti-Theft Method
The Giants have a obvious defensive downside. They’ve allowed 88 stolen bases this 12 months, essentially the most within the majors by a dozen. Patrick Bailey is an elite throwing catcher – 96th percentile for pop time and 97th for caught stealing runs above common – however opponents are getting such good jumps that it doesn’t matter. Simply final week, in reality, the Cubs double stole San Francisco into submission with a barrage of freely taken bases and outrageous jumps.
On this week’s rematch, the Giants weren’t going to take it sitting down. They clearly got here into the sequence with a plan – they’d attempt pickoff throws and again picks as usually as doable to disrupt Chicago’s timing on the bases. This appears excessive, although:
Matt Chapman is constructed like a linebacker. He’s 215 kilos of pure muscle, and I’m fairly certain that nobody on the Cubs is excited by colliding with him within the open discipline. Ian Happ is a lot sturdy himself, however that’s a giant man coming proper at him. Not solely was Happ out by a mile, however his slide narrowly escaped Chapman coming straight at him:
Rogers’ preliminary transfer was to second, as a result of that’s the place you choose off a runner on second. However Happ was bouncing into his secondary lead, together with his momentum carrying him away from security, when Rogers spun. He had no selection however to make a break for third base. It was a sensible try to make the very best of a foul scenario. Typically sufficient, the third baseman can’t get there in time, or the pitcher tosses the ball away attempting to throw to a shifting goal.
That’s a deceptively powerful play for Chapman. He was stationed far off the bag, as a result of who of their proper thoughts would steal third with two outs? He needed to cost the bag, preserve himself in place to obtain a throw, and tag Happ with out shedding management of the ball. That meant a collision, as a result of there was no method for each get to 3rd in time and throttle to a cease. It was an motion play, and Chapman was prepared for it:
That’s spectacular protection, precisely what you’d count on from Chapman. It’s a caught stealing you don’t see day by day – technically not a pickoff, what with Happ taking off for third and all. The Giants additionally threw out Christopher Morel on a very optimistic try to stretch a single right into a double and later retired him once more on a again choose at first base. They’re doing every part they’ll to sluggish opposing speedsters. You may steal on the Giants – however you may additionally get the insult and the damage when Matt Chapman full-contact tags you out at third.
