Well, the Hated Ones beat The Team With the Most Insufferable Overrated Manager In Baseball in Game 1 of the NLCS. Man, I want the Cubs to beat the Dodgers in this series because, well, the Dodgers! But good God! It is so hard to root for anything remotely associated with Joe Maddon, the most overrated, smug, arrogant, loudmouthed manager since Tommy Lasorda.
Maddon as livid over a play that ended up not impacting the outcome of the game when Wilson Contreras stuck is foot and leg out hockey goalie style before he had the ball to block home plate with Charlie Culberson bearing down on him. Contreras' foot kept Culberson's hand from touching home plate, and Contreras applied the tag as Culberson kneeled in the dirt on the other side of the plate. The call on the field was Out. The replay officials called Culberson Safe invoking the "Buster Posey Rule".
Ron Darling in the broadcast booth went nuts and spent the rest of the game complaining about how the rule negated a "great baseball play." Maddon came out, ranted at the on-field ump, who is not the guy who made the call, waved his arm around, clearly dropped an F-bomb if you were reading lips and got tossed. After the game, Maddon said he did not like the rule and he also thought the rule was not interpreted correctly.
As much as I don't want the Dodgers to win this series, the rule was interpreted correctly and it is a good rule. Let's rewind and show this play without the "Buster Posey Rule." Contreras sticks his leg out. Culberson, knowing Contreras will do that, goes shoulder first into Conteras' leg and foot trying to displace it enough to get to Home Plate destroying a young star catcher's ankle in the process. Or Culberson aims for Contreras' chest hoping to jar the ball loose causing one or both of them to suffer a concussion on the play.
Those are the outcomes the "Buster Posey Rule" was designed to prevent. The rule worked perfectly as nobody was hurt and the replay call was correct. If the Out call was allowed to stand, the next time the situation arose, the runner would know he had to blow up the catcher in order to score the run.
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You know annoys me the most about the 'Buster Posey Rule.' It wasn't because of Buster Posey, it was because of Avila getting run over in 2103. Until that happened in the playoffs the 'rule' was going nowhere.
ReplyDeleteAs for Maddon, he was in favor of the rule in 2014. And he's pointed out that the runner can blow up the catcher (and has defended it earlier this season when Rizzo blew someone up) if the catcher blocks the plate as he's required to give the runner a lane.
"7.13, states “a runner attempting to score may not deviate from his direct pathway to the plate in order to initiate contact with the catcher (or other player covering home plate).” A runner violating the rule shall be declared out, even if the fielder drops the ball.
Along with the rule, the sides agreed to a pair of comments umpires use for interpretation. The first comment says “the failure by the runner to make an effort to touch the plate, the runner’s lowering of the shoulder, or the runner’s pushing through with his hands, elbows or arms, would support a determination that the runner deviated from the pathway in order to initiate contact with the catcher in violation.” The comment says players who slide appropriately are not in violation of the rule.
The second comment says that “unless the catcher is in possession of the ball, the catcher cannot block the pathway of the runner as he is attempting to score.” The runner shall be declared safe if the catcher violates that provision. In addition, it is not a violation “if the catcher blocks the pathway of the runner in order to field a throw, and the umpire determines that the catcher could not have fielded the ball without blocking the pathway of the runner and that contact with the runner was unavoidable.”"
That was clear plate blocking without the ball. The runner is safe. If he'd have had the ball first, it'd have been a legal play and the runner would have been out. And crybaby Maddon knows that.
Duck the Fodgers...agree with your assessment of Maddon as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm pulling for the Astros to win it all. Houston has had a tough summer (h/t to Doc for his Wildland Fire story - prayers for those impacted in NorCal). I also like their motto: "Earn It!"
Keep up the great work Doc. Whenever I can get internet connectivity while overseas, I always start with your blog.
NWGiantsFan (by way on TX and OCONUS)
DtF!!!
So am I. I just wish they'd go back to those 1970s uniforms... :)
Delete"The rule worked perfectly"
ReplyDeleteExactly so.
Got a TiVo 17 years ago so I could FF past Joe Morgan's drivel.
New one works just fine for (someone's) Darling.
The block of the plate (a leg by itself is incredibly vulnerable -- Maddon should be happy Culberson didn't legally blow up Contreras' leg) occurred after Dodgers had completely shut down the Cubs -- 12 consecutive outs enroute to 18 to finish the game, Jansen getting the last 4, all K's: Bryant, Rizzo, Contreras, and Happ.
ReplyDeleteOther than hitting a lot of HR's (sign of the times, Giants?), the Cubs are not very good. They don't beat the Nationals without another foldo by Baker and Harper.
To be fair to Harper (who struck out 6 times in the series including the final out in a 1-run game), other than Michael Taylor, every starter on both teams looked pretty bad at the plate.
DeleteAs for Baker, he had a "hunch" that González would do better than he did starting game 5 in 2012 NLDS (seeking redemption). Although a near HOF regular season manager, Dusty just doesn't win the BIG ONE starting with game 162 for a playoff spot in 1993 (Salomón Torres) and then the 2002 WS sure winners late in Game 6 plus memorable failures in Chicago and Cincinnati before this last debacle.
Dusty is a career bridesmaid!
Will they ever learn?
That's still a big what was he thinking moment for me. Starting Salomon Torres, a rookie who had pretty bad numbers across the board to begin with, in a win or go home game against the Doyers instead of Bill Swift, who came in 2nd for the NL Cy Young Award that season.
DeleteIt was shocking that Dusty took out Schertzer in game 3 in the 7th inning with a 1-0 shutout and brought in Sammy Solis instead of his top reliever Sean Doolittle. Had a feeling the Cubs would come up with the big hits after that.
DeleteLG
Dusty Baker's managing style is built for the long haul of the regular season. He is a genius at keeping a team together and wanting to play through a grueling season. His game managing tends to be "by-the-book" except when he plays his hunches which often get him into trouble.
DeleteI do think there is another side of the story of some of his more infamous decisions:
My recollection is that Bill Swift and John Burkett were running on fumes or less by the final game of the 1993 season and the choices after them ranged from bad to terrible. He tried to catch lightning in a bottle with Salomon Torres and it didn't work out. In the end, it probably did not matter because there is no way that pitching staff was going to make it through a postseason.
By today's sabermetric thinking, pulling Russ Ortiz in the 7'th inning of the 6'th game of the 2002 WS was absolutely the right thing to do. If your SP is in trouble and has gone through the order more than twice, you gotta pull him. In this case, the bullpen failed to execute in spectacular fashion. I don't think you can blame Dusty for that.
I don't know about pulling Scherzer, but I have to agree, I don't think Solis is the guy he should have gone to there.
I tend to believe that the postseason is a SSS crapshoot, but fair or not, postseason performance and championships are what make players and managers famous. That is what will put Bruce Bochy in the HOF and what will keep Dusty Baker out. Again, not fair, but that's the reality.
DeleteI will say that after watching Bruce Bochy outmaneuver multiple managers of favored teams through multiple postseasons, I do think he had/has a special talent for big game management and it isn't all just luck. But the players still have to execute once they are given the chance or the best decisions in the world will come to naught.
I've said much the same thing about Baker. Playoff management is different. Yet he does it like he needs to save those players for the next 100 games... Playoffs are do or die. You have to try to 'do' or you will surely 'die' unless the other team folds.
DeleteAnd, yes, he's had some bad luck on good decisions. But he's make a lot of his own bad luck, like Game 3.
@the doc its kind of like beating a dead horse stil posting about this, but he didn't use Swift because he wanted to save him to pitch against the Braves for the tie breaker game if the Giants beat L.A.. Swift was actually pitching great his past 4 games. Winning each one as well as going deep, with one I think being a shutout.
DeleteIt might also have had something to do with the fact that Swift had already pitched 232.2 innings on the season, 54 more than he had ever pitched before, and would have been going on 2 days rest.
DeleteThe famous 2002 WS... I still remember J.T. Snow picking up a kid near home plate after scoring... I didn't know Robb Nen had that bad a shoulder while trying to save Game 6...
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you have posted this before, but perhaps you should blog about Giants managers that you have observed over time and what made them unique or effective (or reverse?)
Hey Doc! Maybe I will. I actually started thinking about writing up a post about Dusty Baker before your comment, but writing a series about him and other Giants managers would be an interesting undertaking. I do have some opinions as you might guess.
DeleteNever thought I would be in a position to not be sad if the Dodgers won an NL series.
ReplyDelete