So, is anybody going to remind the commentators in the Dodgers game that before the blocking the plate rule was introduced, the catcher would have been run over and the runner would have been safe at home anyway?
Yeah. Idiotic on their part. Wanna see what happens to a catcher when he gets hit by a guy running at full speed. Compilation on youtube. Instructive.
Pretty much he would have been in the act of catching the ball when he got drilled in the bead. There would have been no perfect form blocking the plate just a crumpled defenseless catcher. Not that the run mattered.
Hopefully, the cubs bullpen doesn’t improve and considering how many guys they used tonight and to get to the nlcs im thinking they’ll at least have problems until they get a travel day to rest up.
So the ending of the Astros-Yankees game strikes me as a perfect illustration of something RickJay said earlier about randomness and skill:
9 times out of 10, Gary Sanchez takes that relay throw and tags Altuve out, and the game goes on. In a sense, the Astros were lucky to win on that play.
However, he didn’t miss the tag because he rolled a die, it’s because he did not execute the task that he had before him.
No, Dusty’s contract - or lack thereof - shouldn’t factor into his management decisions. But his management decisions can certainly factor into the front office and its decision whether to offer him a new contract. That’s all I meant.
That may be the first Fox Sports conspiracy theory ever invented. 
What I want to know is, why does no one mention that Judge overthrew the cutoff man? And for that matter why was Castro stationed between Judge and second base and not in line to take the relay and throw home – that’s the crucial runner. Even if the throw gets to second in time for a tag, by the time a tag is made there’s no way to get the runner at the plate.
Both Girardi and Judge said that it wasn’t an overthrow; that Didi has a better arm and was the best shot at recording the out. One of the analyses I watched of the play noted that the difference in Didi’s throwing speed made up for any extra time it took for the ball to get to him from Judge.
Sanchez should have caught the ball, but whatever. It’s not like the loss can be pinned entirely on him.
Isn’t the real story Verlander? That was an old-school, complete game, 124 pitch throttling. I’m not even mad.
Go ahead, Lackey. Throw a fastball to Turner. 
Holy crap! That was fun.
I’m so dissapointed in Kenley that he hasn’t struck out every Cub he’s faced how embarrassing.
Holy cow, I’m just starting to breathe again. I love baseball. I also hate baseball. Today is more love than hate.
Justin Turner is a baseball God and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.
Turner is one of the most under-rated guys in baseball. Tonight, he gets to enjoy the moment. Go Blue!
What’s impressing me most about Houston and LA so far is that they’re winning tight, low-scoring games. We knew that both teams had offense and could pound other pitchers out of the game, but when you’ve got teams that can win low and high scoring games, that’s a recipe for a title. Obviously, things can change. Teams have come back from 0-2 holes but it’s not looking good for the Yanks or Cubs, and I’d say it’s probably slightly worse odds for the Cubs at this point. Yankees, with their lineup, still have a shot.
Another game in which the only runs the Dodger pitchers have allowed came from homers…WOW. GO BLUE!:
LAD 9 - ARI 5 (Pollock solo HR, Martinez solo HR, Marte solo HR, Mathis HR, plus unearned run on a forceout)
LAD 8 - ARI 5 (Goldschmidt 2-run HR, Drury 3-run HR)
LAD 3 - ARI 1 (Descalso solo HR)
LAD 5 - CHN 2 (Almora Jr. 2-run HR)
LAD 4 - CHN 1 (Russell solo HR)
I keep reminding myself the Yanks are playing with house money having got past Cleveland and that we’re here basically a season or two early, but oy vey! Down 0-2 again.
A few things went wrong on that play. If you watch the play, there are several not-wonderfully-executed parts of the play that combine to allow Altuve to score.
- Judge does a wonderful job getting to the ball - if it goes by him the game is certainly over - but his throw bounces and pulls Gregorius to his left. I mean, it’s a 200-foot throw and just making it as well as he does is hard. But that illustrates just how difficult this is.
Ideally Gregorius would have been another 15-20 feet towards Judge to get closer to Judge’s throwing range. The middle infielder receiving the throw with a runner threatening to score should position himself between the outfielder and the plate, at a point that maximizes the likelihood both the outfielder and the infielder can make effective throws; either he wasn’t far enough out, or Judge’s throw was not as strong as it should have been. (Eyeballing it, I think Judge rushed his throw; had he set himself he could have hit Gregorius on the fly.)
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Because he is pulled to his left, Gregorius is off balance and is running into Correa on second base, so his throw home sucks.
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Because his throw home sucks (really not Did’s fault, whaddya gonna do) it’s a harder play for Sanchez to make than it should be. Sanchez should have made the play, but, had the throw been on a line, maybe we aren’t talking about this.
My point is this: Relay plays are difficult to execute. Moving a baseball 370 feet in a few seconds is hard. It doesn’t look far on TV; in person it is a staggering distance to throw a ball with precision. Proper relay plays are what you might call a “fundamental level indication” - the success with which they are done is directly proportional to the level of baseball, but even at the MLB level, where most types of plays are executed 96-99.5% of the time, they’re not easily done; you have to have the outfielder cut off the ball perfectly, make a near-perfect throw to an infielder who must be in a perfect position, and have the infielder make a near-perfect throw to a catcher who must then make a very difficult tag play. I’m personally of the opinion that in some situations, MLB coaches are not sufficiently aggressive in sending runners home - especially with two outs, a situation where it is more than likely the runner will not score if he holds at third. In that specific situation, IMHO it is always the correct play to try to score unless it’s Cecil Fielder running or something, simply because the likelihood of a perfect replay play is not as high as you might think.
Gary Pettis, the Astros’ third base coach, has been mildly criticized for his decision to send Altuve home, but Gary Pettis knows a hell of a lot about playing the outfield and running the bases, and if he was watching that play thinking “That doesn’t look right; let’s take a shot at this” I trust his judgment. I absolutely believe he could see as the play unfolded that he Yankees were not executing a terrific relay.
Was the runner at second base exempt from being called for interference by virtue of the fact that he was on the base? Clearly he prevented a better throw by Didi.
There is no interference, providing he isn’t deliberately interfering with Gregorius, which I think it’s quite clear he was not. It would not matter if he on on the base or not; Gregorius ran into HIM, and he is entitled to either the baseline or his base.
Every imaginable type of runner interference, including some I have honestly never seen in my life, is listed under Rule 6.01. “Being on a base you’re entitled to when a fielder runs into you” isn’t one of them.
The pitching matchups favor the Yankees for the next couple games, as the Astros have a steep drop-off from past Cy Young winners to journeymen while the Yankees’ rotation is relatively flat in terms of quality. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the Yankees win 2 of 3 in New York.