Tampa Bay entered the postseason with the best record baseball, and Price was not only their best pitcher, but was one of the one best pitchers in baseball. On the other hand, Texas entered the post season with the worst record of any playoff team and had not been expected to even make it to the fifth game of this series.
But with two balls and two strikes in the fourth inning of a 1-1 game, Cruz crushed a pitch to left center field and -- abandoning baseball etiquette -- stood in the batter's box and admired his shot for a couple of seconds before beginning his slow celebratory home-run trot around the bases.
As Cruz approached first base, he realized that the ball had not left the park, but had actually bounced off the wall and back into the field of play, so he hustled to second base.
It is considered showboating for a hitter to stand in the batter's box and admire his shot after hitting a home-run. However, ever since players like Barry Bonds and Manny Ramirez began doing it regularly, more players have taken to admiring their home-run balls and trotting around the bases. (If a hitter did this before the Bonds/Ramirez era, he was likely to get a ball thrown at him in his next at-bat.)
Cruz has slightly above average speed, so he could have easily made it to third base on the play if he had hustled -- some especially fast runners might have even scored. But instead, the home-run trot cost Cruz third base, and so with two outs in the top of the 4th, Cruz was stuck on second base.
The chances of a runner with Cruz's speed scoring from third base on a single is similar to his chances of scoring from second. So in that sense, being on second base with two outs versus being on third base was not a significant disadvantage. However, there is a definite advantage to being at third base because in addition to the greater chances of scoring on a single, there is also the possibility of scoring on a wild pitch (which can't be done from second.)
Johnnie O and I got quite a kick out this. We laughed at Cruz for trotting around the bases on a ball that didn't go out of the park, and we imagined how angry his coaches and teammates must have been. Even more, we laughed at how embarrassed Cruz himself must have been for showboating and costing his team a base at the most important moment of the most important game of his life.
We imagined what must have been going through Cruz's mind as he stood there on second base, helpless, knowing that every player on both teams, plus the thousands of fans in attendance and millions of fans watching on national television had just seen him make an incredibly dumb play.
Another rule of thumb in baseball is that a baserunner should never make the final out of an inning at third base, because like I said above, the chances of scoring from third on a single are only slightly greater than they are from second (so a runner shouldn't take the chance of being thrown out at third and completely wiping out any scoring possibility.) (And the possibility of scoring on a wild pitch is negligible compared to a runner's chances of being thrown out trying to steal third base.)
Stealing third base is a difficult task in major league baseball. The throw from home plate to third base is much shorter than the throw from home plate to second base, and since being on third base with two outs is not much of an upgrade over being at second base with two outs, stealing third base with two outs is something that almost never happens.
But Cruz knew he had messed up by admiring his shot, so on Price's very first pitch to the next batter, Cruz took off to steal third!
Cruz is a player known more for his power than his speed, but not being one to abide by conventional wisdom, he attempted to atone for his showboating by trying to steal third base with two outs in a tie game of the deciding game of a playoff series against the best team in baseball!
"Oh my God, what an idiot!!" I shouted as he took off for third.
I imagined the wrath that Cruz -- who had only stolen third base 12 times in his entire six year career, and probably never with two outs -- would face as he went back to the dugout to get his glove after being thrown out to end the inning and wiping out his team's chance to take the lead in the final game of the series.
Johnnie O said what Texas manager Ron Washington was likely thinking, "Oh nooooo!"
"He's either dumb, or he's crazy!"I shouted.
Not only did Cruz's steal attempt surprise me and Johnnie O, but it also surprised the Rays. Pitcher David Price barely even looked back to hold Cruz at second base before going into a full windup and throwing a slow breaking ball -- both of which are more susceptible to a stolen base. And catcher Kelly Shoppach didn't seem ready to make a throw, because the throw he made to catch Cruz at third was off target.
As third baseman Evan Longoria jumped to try and catch the errant throw from Shoppach, Cruz slid in underneath him and safely into third base.
And when the ball went flying over Longoria's head and into left field, Cruz got up and ran in to score the go-ahead run!
Looking back, I think maybe Cruz is smarter than I initially gave him credit. Maybe he trotted to second on purpose because he wanted to catch the Rays off guard by trying to steal third and forcing a bad throw that would allow him to score the go-ahead run. If he had hustled to third like he was supposed to on his long fly ball, then he would have had to rely on the next batter to drive him in. Instead, Nelson Cruz -- the pride of Monte Cristi -- took matters into his own hands.
Nelson Cruz, I salute you!!
Here's the highlight.
And for all of my female fans who didn't care much for this baseball post, here's a picture of Nelson Cruz naked:
(Well, he's naked, but you can't see anything more than the top of his buttcrack. So I apologize to women and gay men (and straight men) who were hoping to see his penis or his asshole.)
2 comments:
l like how some people were not only expecting to see the ass but the asshole...
Anonymous took the words right out of my mouth.
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