Late night pennant race

The Angels had a right to be steamed at the non-strikeout calls against Nick Green.

BUT, they should really be hot that their left fielder didn't even try to catch the flyball that won the game.

You have to dive for that ball...nothing to lose.

P.S. I'm very happy he didn't!!!

I was STEAMED that I shut the Red Sox game off in the 8th, I was too tired. My son & I also get up early for school, we are up @ 5:30 for FL 7am HS start. Not a lot of conversation from him i nthe morning.

I watched Baseball Tonight this morning, and understand Nick Green may have gotten te benefit of a close call, but LF has to lay out for that ball, how deep was he playing? The Monster is only 300' down the line.

It comes back to teams knowing when another team has their number. The Red Sox feel good about beatingthe Angels and Angels find ways to lose to the Red Sox.

Great endings though!

I couldn't believe he didn't dive... I'll bet Mike Scoiosa's coffee won't taste very good this morning

quote:

Originally posted by fsmjunior:
I watched Baseball Tonight this morning,

Make up your mind

quote:

Originally posted by zombywoof:

quote:

Originally posted by fsmjunior:
I watched Baseball Tonight this morning,

Make up your mind

You got me there!

If you look at gameday the pitch was probably a strike, but it was marginal and the umpire had pretty consistently called that pitch a ball earlier in the game. You have to pitch to the umpire's strike zone.

The question in my mind is why Scioscia didn't put Mathis in as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the 9th given his superior pitch calling ability? I realize he didn't want to make Napoli look bad but at this point in the season those are the kind of changes you make to win key games.

He might have a different leftfielder in for late-inning defense the rest of this month too

quote:

Originally posted by zombywoof:

quote:

Originally posted by fsmjunior:
I watched Baseball Tonight this morning,

Make up your mind

I read USA Today yesterday.

Icouldn't agree more about the left fielder. He actually pulled up and the ball landed about 4 feet in front of him.

I wa watching with my son. He was furious that there was no attempt at the catch. Said it was disrespectful of the game, and also of his teammates, especially the third baseman who laid himself out to knock down a hard grounder and prevent the tying run.

I was shocked when it was called a ball. I thought it was no doubter. I also could not believe the LF just checked up on a do or die ball. If he busts the entire way and lays out there is a chance to make a play. Instead he checks up and just lets the ball fall in.

My late thoughts (I'm hard core Red Sox fan):

The pitch to Green was a strike, but it appeared to lock up both Green and the umpire. I was watching the MLB tracking pitch zone thing and all 8 previous pitches in the AB were up and away except for one pitch was up and in. Only the last pitch was down. I think the umpire was locked up. As I watched the pitch live, I thought ball 4. When I saw the reply with the strike zone box up, I thought WOOOH... I was fooled with everyone else.

There was a VERY significant wind blowing in all night long. I don't know if that affected the 'lack of dive' but it sure mixed things up earlier in the night. Mostly the Red Sox were favored with balls that should've been HR's being caught in the OF after being knocked down by the wind.

I've watched thousands of games, but would say I've never seen a game where more calls went 'one way' than this one. And they all went the Red Sox way.

Tonight things evened up a little...

They had said something the night before about Rivera not diving for balls. Perhaps it has something to do with the very badly broken leg he suffered a few years ago.

How about the dropped dbl ball that was clearly lost on the transfer? The umpire appeared to ring the runner and then changed the call to safe. Hey I was pulling for the RS but it did appear that several calls when their way. I mentioned to Rob Kremer that I thought the umpire was frozen on the call for the same reasons you mentioned JMoff.

But I also thought Green even believed he swung at the pitch on the check swing that was called no swing. As a coach I could have taken all those calls alot better than my player checking up and not giving everything he had to attempt to make a play in that situation. If the guy is not healthy enough to attempt to make a play he shouldnt be in the game to start with imo.

Actually the other outfielders said the ball was much further from him than it looked on TV and that he had no chance to field the ball. It would have been the dive for show that some players make, sometimes even in situations where it could cost their team.

As far as a player not being able to make all the plays being in the lineup it happens all the time. You put the best player you can out there and sometimes that means putting a player in the lineup whose mobility is limited because he's the best option at the plate.

Here's a couple players who had a rep for not diving - Ryne Sandberg and Joe Dimaggio.

The best player in the line up changes in some game situations wouldnt you agree? Teams make defensive substitutions all the time late in games. I wouldnt expect his team mates to throw him under the bus. And maybe it was not as close as it appeared on tv. But I still believe it was a half hearted attempt. But thats just my opinion.

Agree with the rest. I didn't see it so I can't comment on if it looked half-hearted or not.