World Series: Game 3 thoughts
Figure I might as well blog while my thoughts are fresh, and while there's still some traffic outside the ballpark. What a game.
1. The late start. What did you think? I have mixed feelings, as I discussed in the column I wrote for Newsday's first edition; unfortunately, as I write this, it's not on our Web site yet. Baseball officials thought that the storm would stop in time for a 9:30 first pitch; they proved to be overly optimistic by 36 minutes. Should they have postponed the game earlier in the day, or did they do the right thing?
I'll say this: You didn't see an empty seat here, and the fans behaved no differently than if it had been an 8:35 first pitch. And in the bottom of the ninth inning, you still couldn't see an empty seat. So ultimately, who represents your top priority? The paying fans who are there in person, or the fans watching on TV and watching the advertisements?
2. The ninth inning. So many decisions. Let's break them up.
a. A scenario we've discussed here plenty: Phillies get a runner on third with none out, 90 feet away from victory. The Rays respond by intentionally walking Shane Victorino and pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs, loading the bases for a Grant-Balfour-Carlos Ruiz matchup.
A reporter asked Tampa Bay manager Joe Madeon afterward, "Did you think at all about maybe letting Balfour strike his way out of the situation? Or is that too much to ask in that situation, in the bottom of the ninth?"
Maddon responded that he viewed Victorino as so dangerous - he could have bunted, he could have squeezed - to let hit. Then, when Dobbs pinch hit for Pedro Feliz, Maddon cited Dobbs' success as a pinch hitterr; Dobbs led all major leaguers with 22 regular-season pinch hits in 2008. So it was Ruiz, and then it would've been Matt Stairs pinch-hitting for J.C. Romero.
You can disagree with Maddon. But I thought his explanations made some sense. Ruiz is slow-footed, and he could've easily hit into a "throw to home, then to first" double play.
b. Ben Zobrist became the fifth infielder, coming in from rightfield, putting on an infielder's glove and playing behind second base for the Ruiz at-bat. The last time I remember seeing that tactic was in this game; the Red Sox tried it, and if I remember correctly, it didn't play a factor. Likewise, it made no difference in this World Series game. But it was still cool.
c. Should Evan Longoria have let Ruiz's game-ending, swinging bunt go foul? At first glance I thought so. Longoria had virtually no chance to get Bruntlett at home. He might as well have let it go and prayed for the best.
But the Rays violently disagreed with that analysis.
"I have to try and make a play," Longoria said.
"It would've stayed fair," Balfour said. "The grass is pretty thick there."
"I have no qualms with him picking it up and doing what he did," Joe Maddon said. "Actually, if he had been able to flip it without the extra height, he would have been out at the plate."
3. First-base umpire Tom Hallion admitted, after the game, that he blew the seventh-inning call on Carl Crawford. The speedy Rays outfielder hit a soft grounder down the first-base line, and Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer dove, snared the ball in his glove, and, in one motion, used his glove to shovel the ball to Ryan Howard at first base. Howard managed to barehand the ball with his left hand, and replays conclusively showed that the throw beat Crawford.
Instead, because Hallion ruled Crawford safe, the Rays proceeded to score two runs.
How easy would it have been there to look at the replay and overrule Hallion? Eventually, baseball must add replay for everything besides balls and strikes. It won't take as long as you fear, and they'll get the calls right.
I had to laugh when Longoria complained afterwards, "It was one of those days when the baseball gods were on their side." Longoria was upset because he thought he hit a sixth-inning homer off Moyer to leftfield, only to see it die on the warning track and get caught by Pat Burrell.
I started to say, "What about the break you guys got in the play at first base?" But given how tired I was at that point, it's possible I might have posed the question in Portuguese. I'm pretty sure Longoria didn't fully comprehend what I was asking, and some other eager questioner quickly got his attention.
4. Moyer. How amazing was he? He missed out on getting the victory, but he redeemed himself, proving he still had something left, after a miserable NLCS outing against the Dodgers. It's fascinating in that there's absolutely no one else out there like him, who would try to get away with winning games by throwing no faster than 82 mph. I hope he keeps it going for another five years. I wrote about Moyer in Newsday's second edition last night.
5. So it's not a great World Series. But it is an exciting one, and it'd be surprising if the Phillies could finish the job here at home. It would be nice to have a Fall Classic that lasts longer than Shark Week.
6. Here is my Sunday Insider, which discusses Alex Rodriguez's potential participation (or potential lack thereof) in next year's World Baseball Classic.
OK, time to head back to the hotel. I'll check in (much) later in the day.
UPDATE, 3:32 p.m.: Here is my Moyer column. Here is my column on Selig and the rain delay. Here is the Seventh-Inning Stretch.
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Comments (25)
Baseball displayed its total contempt for fans on the East Coast in starting the game at 2200. How anybody can say differently is beyond me.
As it is, World Series (and all playoff) games take at least 3 hours, if not more, to play. Does mlb expect fans to stay up till 0100 to watch a lousy baseball game (even if it is a Sunday morning)....
This garbage has got to stop. They pull it during the regular season too.
No game should start later than 2030 local time...that should be the rule. Period end of discussion.
Hello from Japan. Your baseball blog is very interesting!
Is the fifth infielder tactic isn't very rare in US? I was very surprised to watch the game on TV today. And I was surprised to find the word 'fifth infielder' on an online dictionary. There isn't such a word in Japanese. :)
Baseball should have made a decision on last night's game long before it started. A World Series game starting after 10 p.m. eastern time is a stretch.
Moyer bounce back very nicely. Moyer pitch his type of game by throwing slow, slower and slowest. He did got lucky in the 6th when Evan Longoria fly ball was caught at the track by Burrell. I thought when Longoria hit it, it was going to be gone for a home run. Instead the ball didn't carry enough and was caught by Burrell.
Crawford was clearly out because FOX showed a replay of Howard catching the ball with his bare hand and Crawford didn't touch 1st base yet. The Rays were able to score 2 runs in the 7th because of it.
I had no problem with the way Maddon manage the bottom of the 9th. Having a 5th infielder with the bases loaded and nobody out is something I wouldn't done. And on the last play of the game, Longoria had no chance to throw out Bruntlett at the plate.
JMH's boy, Phil Hughes is struggling in the Arizona Fall League according to what I read in Joel Sherman's column in the New York post today.
Here's the link to it.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10262008/sports/yankees/yanks_decision_looking_bad_135306.htm
Ken, I normally HATE (and you know how rarely I use that word) walking the bases loaded. This was no exception. I would have walked Victorino too...the guys been too clutch this postseason. But a guy pinch hits because he's not good enough to be a starter. I do understand going after Feliz and DP Stairs but still I thought it was a terrible decision. As it turned out, he got Feliz to hit a very weak groundball. ITs funny how that will be "clutch" but A-Rods 100 MPH linedrive to third when he hit into a DP in September was viewed as another failure.
He def should have let it go foul. He had a 1% chance at home. Even that might be overly optimistic. But its tough to make that decision without a replay. The announcers sucked for not even bringing up that possibility. I slow-mode it and I thought it would have gone foul...but you cant be sure.
RG, Feliz was pinch-hit for by Dodds. After Maddon walk Victorino internationally, he then walk Dodds intenationally to load the bases to pitch to Ruiz. Ruiz got the count to 2-2 against Balfour and hit the slow dirbble that Longoria had no chance to throw out Burntlett at the plate to end the game. For a guy like Ruiz who is not much of a hitter, Ruiz has come up big for the Phillies.
I say I think Moyer is going to get pounded and he's great, of course. I'm the ultimate jinx. I'm rooting for the Phils, so it's all good...
I was fine with them starting the game so late. I kind of hated the idea of taking away a travel day from the teams (because of what it did to the rotations). I'm an insomniac, so staying up till three in the morning watching baseball is fine with me. I've stayed up late watching west-coast baseball a million times. I would understand if others would disagree, but they could probably justify it because it was the weekend.
A lot of people seem to have thought last night was a great game, but I don't know. Both teams were throwing the ball all over the place. And I hate when games are decided on errors and catchers throwing balls away, etc. And then the little dribbler to third to win it. Meh. I hate "hits" like that. Should he have let that ball roll and see if it would go foul? Tough call -- because how does he look if he's just standing there and it stays fair? His underhand throw home was horrendous, though. It would have been much funnier if Longoria just reared back and beamed Bruntlett in the back of the head, knocking him out, Bruntlett's unconscious body scoring the winning run. Or maybe that thought was inspired by too many beers...
I didnt even bother to start watching it because I knew I wouldn't be around at the end. To play in conditions like that is unfair to the fans who paid to go see the game, those who are watching on TV because the game is a mess and the players who are forced to play in those conditions. Sports is nothing but a TV show now, so I am wondering what Fox has on TV Tuesday night that outrates the 5th game of the World Series which would have been played then if last night was cancelled?
Interesting to read today in my local paper that Selig said he would like to have some afternoon games in the World Series but television demands and pays for all games at night because of the better ratings. So why have the last 2 World Series' been the lowest rated in history? If lucky, ratings will plummet enough that TV doesn't want to risk their ratings on it and it will someday revert back to weekday and weekend games because then the ratings will be worth it as compared to what is currently on late afternoons.
Sandy - I'm with you. I didn't watch because I knew I couldn't stay up for the entire game as well. And B-walk proved my point that the target audience WAS insomniacs! All we needed to complete the circus would have been Bud Selig walking around in the storm without a raincoat doing his Bowie Kuhn impresonation.
The fans weren't going to leave - it was the first WS game in Philly in 15 years, and quite frankly, the fans needed a distraction like this in order to continue to live in that town.
And I get it -"Rocky" was filmed there - enough with the Bill Conti theme song! It would have been more appropriate to use "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" theme music during the rain delay.
Ken - what did you reporters do during the delay, since you were probably unable to do interviews in the locker room or on the field -order out from Geno's, eat Turkey Hill ice cream?
Personally, I have never seen walking the bases loaded succeed.
I would have gone after Dobbs, who had been sitting for 4 hours (plus a rain delay) with fastballs to try to strike him out - then walk the next batter.
If you stayed up until 2am to watch the entire game, you could have then turned to PBS for "Twelve Angry Men". This title also describes the nursing home residents in your typcial nursing home in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area who couldn't stay awake to see the beginning of Game 3.
I bet back in the day reporters would have fumed because the game started so late there would be no way for them to file stories that made the next day's paper. Now voila! all the news fit to print is right here on the interweb for free, for now at least, and not in the daily newspaper that costs me $1.50 plus sales tax (yeah we don't have state income tax here in Florida but they tax everything else to make up for that.)
Sandy, the "conditions" were fine by the time the game started. That was the point. They waited until the rain stopped. So the fans all hung out indoors during the delay, and then it was actually quite pleasant out by first pitch.
Bob, during the delay, I hung out with my wife and son a little bit (my son's first World Series game - they left in the third inning), and I worked. Nothing too exciting.
Gravitino, you'll see a fifth infielder used occasionally in potential walk-off situations like that, where you're trying to plug every infield hole that you can.
The worst umpired series since the 1997 Indians/Marlins!!!
I have no problem with yesterday's strike zone, but the miss at first on the great play by Moyer on the bunt...yes, instant replay will be around for almost every call and reviewed by someone in MLB offices at 245 Park in the near future.
Ken, sorry for not reading the Floyd piece very carefully!
RG, I am back to agreeing with you! (Woo-hoo!) Walking the bases loaded with a pitcher who does not have the best control is stupid, stupid, stupid (IMHO, of course!). The home-to-first double play is not a common occurrence, although it is the wet dream of every manager whose team is on the field at the moment. Therefore, walk Victorino if you must, but go after Dobbs. (Couldn't Price or Miller have brought in to face him?)
By the way, Maddon's head should have been examined for starting Gross in right field against Moyer. What the f--- was that all about? When had Gross previously started against a lefty?
Regarding the starting time, I am sympathetic, but only up to a point. Always consider how fair it is for World Series games to begin at 5pm on weekdays for the tens of millions of Americans living on the West Coast....
Ken...sorry for my late contribution...my eyes started to glaze over at around midnight...why Selig thinks it's a good idea to start a WS game after 10 EST when most kids (assuming your son also) are fast asleep is beyond me...and can we dispense with dumb starting times of 8:29 & 8:35...the Phils/Rays WS ratings will probably break the record (no surprise) for the least watched WS...hopefully for your column, tonite's game is over before the sun rises.
Poppy/Sandy/ JE:
At least the legions of Phillies fans in Hawaii and Guam got to watch the entire game without having to resort to energy drinks.
Which is a bigger problem in baseball today..
late starts for playoff games
poor umpiring
steroids
looming recession
Another blown call by the umps in this World Series. In the bottom of the 1st tonight, the Phillies had runners on 1st and 3rd and 1 out with Howard at the plate. Howard hist a ground ball to Sonnanstine. Instead of going to 2nd base to start a inning ending double play, Sonnanstine saw Rollins going down the 3rd base line and try to get Rollins into a run down. Rollins got back to 3rd base on the play, but on the replay Longoria apparently tag Rollins on the back before Rollins got back to the 3rd base bag and the 3rd base umpire Tim Welke didn't see the tag and call Rollins safe. As a result the Phillies score a run on a bases loaded walk by Burrell.
Bob, if I have to rank them, here's how I would rank them as the biggest problem in baseball today.
1. Looming recession.
2. Steriods
3. Poor Umpiring
4. Late starts for playoff games.
The late start of playoff games has something to do with TV and TV pays a lot of money to broadcast these games in all sports.
Yay JE!!! That's why you're my bench coach. Check out people's BA. with the bases loaded...there normally much higher because you know you're getting a strike.
I remember playing in an over 30-league when they walked our player who batted 9th and had no hits during the season to load the bases. Our best hitter was up and instead of being able to intentionally walk him he got a hit and we won. (I had contributed a single in the inning) It amazed me then and it amazes me now how this becomes standard practice like the prevent defense.
I wonder when Kenny Rogers walked Andruw Jones...did he intentionally walk anyone that inning??
RG: from baseballreference.com
TWO intentional walks!!!!
Bottom of the 11th, Braves Batting, Tied 9-9
Kenny Rogers facing 1-2-3
G Williams Double to LF
B Boone Bunt Groundout: 1B unassisted/Sacrifice; Williams to 3B
C Jones Intentional Walk
B Jordan Intentional Walk; Jones to 2B
A Jones Walk; Williams Scores; Jones to 3B; Jordan to 2B
from associated press...
Record low ratings: Game 3, which started 91 minutes late at 10:06 Saturday night and ended at 1:47 a.m. Sunday, earned a 6.1 fast national rating and 13 share on Fox, the network said. The previous low was an 8.0 for Game 1 of the 2006 Cardinals-Tigers series.
The game drew a 28.2/49 in Philadelphia and a 21.6/44 in Tampa. With most of the game in prime time on the West Coast, some of the best ratings outside the home markets came there, including a 9.7/19 in Seattle and a 9.2/20 in San Francisco.
Through three games, the World Series is averaging a 7.7/14, down 23 percent from last year's 10.0/17 for Red Sox-Rockies.
---
A question to ask - did anyone in MLB (Bud Selig, Bob Dupuy, Tim Brosnan) confer with the advertisers ( or vice versa) with regard to the late start of the game? Did they offer makeups, rebates (after all, a 130pm 9th inning is worth less than a 1130pm 9th inning)...
Bob, don't you think Fox's contracts with the advertisers covers them for such contingencies?
Of course - but the decision to play the game at all is my concern - and I surely hope that decision did not go through the advertisers in addition to MLB and Fox.
Do you guys suspect that a delayed game on a weekend might be treated differently than one on a weeknight?
Bob, truly amazing that they would walk the bases loaded, though I wouldn't have pitched to Chipper.
Rating will forever suffer record low ratings for many reasons. One of them being young people no longer grew up with baseball, because they are asleep during the playoffs.
Ken, I'm sure you're going to disagree with me on walking the bases loaded. Assuming your doing it for the force and not to skip a great hitter.
Nope, Richie, no disagreement from me on walking the bases loaded. Especially with Balfour in there, who's a strikeout guy and, at the same time, so powerful that he's not someone you can really trust to throw a strike in a situation where he had to throw strikes.
Check the forecast for Tuesday, guys. Horrendous. Selig said tonight that was a big reason why they eventually decided to play last night.
BTW, did you guys see the Mike Singletary pre and postgame interview?? It was hilarious.
The sideline reporter goes, "Mike, I heard your mentor Bill Walsh called you before the game..." Then she must have been told something in her earpeace and she goes, "What's wrong?" Singletary says, "Yeah..." Francesca said that Walsh was not his mentor since Singletary was a Bear not a 49er. And of course Walsh is dead. I dont know if the mentor part was right or not.
Then he kicks off Vernon Davis for taking a 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty and in his postgame interview says he'd rather play with 10 committed players. Richie G. (Lynbrook) loves this guy!!