by
Greek Giant
Patrick Bailey’s Trouble With Receiving Throws
In the bottom of the sixth inning with a runner on second base and nobody out in a scoreless game of yesterday’s 3-0 loss to the Washington Nationals, Keibert Ruiz hit a liner/fly to left center that had enough hang time on it to be caught. Unfortunately Heliot Ramos took an indecisive and somewhat circular path to the ball and was not able to catch it as it bounced off the ground and his body. He recovered quickly, fired a strike to the cutoff man, Willy Adames, who fired a one-hop missile to Patrick Bailey at home plate. If Bailey catches the ball and applies the tag without too much haste the runner, Nasim Nunez is out at home, the game remains tied at zero and the Giants with Robbie Ray on the mound have a one out, man on second base situation. It must be noted that Nunez would have been out easily because he was waiting to see if Ramos came up with the catch in left center. Nunez played it properly.
None of that happened because Bailey did not catch the throw. This has been a recurring difficulty for the “gold-glove” Bailey in the past three years and it is an issue I have written about extensively last season. It remains a mystery to me how the Giants and Bailey can let this issue linger after three seasons in which anyone paying attention can see there is a problem with their catcher’s skills at receiving throws. There have been many plays where throws at home were made from the outfield and even in the infield to record an out with Bailey not able to catch the throws and apply the tag, be they one hoppers, in the air, or slightly off line. It may be an eyesight problem, a fear of getting creamed by the runner problem, or a glove problem (as I have mentioned before since Bailey uses an exceptionally large mitt to get more strike calls on close plays). I am simply at a loss for words at the lack of progress on this issue and the Giants refusal to address it publicly. It is a fundamental aspect of playing a position and it should not, at the Major League Level become such an issue.
“On plays at the plate, sometimes I think you can get quick and try to make the tag. I feel like I was in a good spot. Willy made a great throw. Obviously, I’d like to make that play.”
The Giants Are Zero Against the Nationals Pen
The next batter for Washington hits a two-run homer and the Giants hitters can do nothing against Mikolas, a pitcher who came into the game with an ERA hovering around 15 runs per game. He would be the winning pitcher, of course and he would shutout the Giants in his four innings of work in which he allowed only one hit!!!. The Nationals pitchers, all relievers, humbled the Giants on this day and wasted another strong Robbie Ray start.
In the game the Giants went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base en route to their fourth shutout loss of the year.
It just boggles the mind!
Saturday’s Wild, Gifted Win
In Saturday’s, crazy, wild, unforgettable 7-6, 12-inning win over the Nationals, a win, that must be noted, was actually a gift by the Washington team, we saw a clinic in bad base running, a level of base running so bad, so epically cringe-inducing, that I ask myself “How can this take place at the major League level?” and “Doesn’t anyone teach base running anymore?”
I am talking about two cases in particular. Let’s begin with the Washington Nationals and the bottom of the tenth inning in a 6-6 tie game. The bases are loaded, there are two outs and Jorbit Vivas hits a grounder up the middle, to the shortstop side of second base, right to a sure-handed Willy Adames. The only problem: Luis Arraez is a bit late covering second base so Adames has to bust it to the bag to try and make the force play on his own by stepping on the bag. The runner beats him to it and is safe. So what does Adames do? He brilliantly does not stop and fires a strike to first base to record the final out of the inning and save the Giants. Now, the only reason he was able to throw out Vivas is because the Nationals hitter assumed and presumed that Adames would make the force play at second base, so he stopped running, I mean, at all. Then, when realizing Adames needed to throw to first, poor Mr. Vivas was caught with his pants down, the inning was over and instead of winning the game, the Nationals would lose it two innings later. All this because Vivas made assumptions, was caught watching the game rather than, you know, actually being a ballplayer and running all the way through. That mistake was terminal for the Nationals.
Earlier in the Game Heliot Ramos too was guilty of watching the game instead of running hard. Rounding third base he turned his head to watch the play in the outfield. This turning, watching slows you down. What does Ramos do? When He realizes there will be a close play at the plate he is thining “Oh sheet, I better run” Fortunately he was able to score. This incredibly bad habit of watching and assuming is one of the worst habits of Major League base runners. It’s one of the reasons why it is so hard for me to watch games anymore. Yes, the athletes are physically impressive. Yes the fastballs are faster.. etc, etc. but the overall quality of play, the inability to simply cover the fundamentals, make it difficult for me. If only you all knew my pain!
The Road Trip Comes to an End
Here is Tony Vitello’s comment on the Giants 4-5 record for their East Coast (mostly) road trip to Baltimore, Cincinnati and Washington D.C.:
“I think it was real positive as far as revealing identity, real positive as far as getting on the right track of playing good baseball. Really, some good things from our pitching, in particular the bullpen.”
Were I the Manager here is how I would have described that trip:
“Well, we just got shutout by a group of pitchers who are closer to AAA level than the Big Leagues. Our guys on the field can’t make the big plays or even the basic ones, and we have some of our sluggers get blown away on 93 MPH fastballs down the middle. We went 0-forever at bat with runners in scoring position. We still don’t know how to play first base. We have a couple starters treading water and we have big payday players not hitting their weight. We were gifted the win on Saturday because the Nationals team runs the bases even worse than we do, and that’s saying something! Other than that. yeah, it could have been worse, I guess.”
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