Two Infield Plays Examined

I had almost forgotten how enjoyable it can be sometimes to listen to a baseball game on the radio instead of watching it on the idiot lantern.  Such was the case a week ago today when the Twins anemic offense could not muster more than a single run in a 2-1 home loss to the Los Angeles Angels (formerly known as the Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim, the Anaheim Angels and the California Angels, but never, to my knowledge, as the Disneyland Ducks).  Momma Cuandito and I were driving home from Wisconsin, passing the time listening to Corey Provus call the play-by-play and Dan "The Dazzle Man" Gladden provide analysis on the Twins Radio Network.  For my money the former Twins left fielder offers more astute insight than any of the retired ballers employed by FSN television.

What I remember most from listening to that game is the occurrence, in consecutive innings, of two plays which, unless you were carefully watching or listening, would appear uneventful.

Teaching An Old Dog A New Trick.  Although I don't claim to be an MLB rules guru -- the Official Rules are more than 150 pages long -- I found out that crediting a fielder with an assist is not as cut-and-dried as I'd believed.  The play in question occurred in the top of the fifth inning when Angels second baseman Ian Kinsler hit a blistering grounder to Twins third baseman Eduardo Escobar.  Esco, with less than a split second to react, tried to short-hop the ball, but it glanced off the heel of his mitt.  Luckily for the Twins, the deflected ball went directly in the air to shortstop Ehire Adrianza whose throw to first barely beat Kinsler.  I immediately said to Momma Cuan, "Just your routine 5-6-3 putout," an opinion verbally confirmed very soon thereafter by Gladden and Provus.  

Before the next Angels batter stepped to the plate, word came to the radio guys that Target Field veteran official scorer, Stew Thornley, did not give Escobar an assist; he scored the play a straight-up 6-3.  Gladden and Provus went apoplectic.  (I would have behaved in similar fashion, but I was behind the wheel.)  "I'm not changing my scorecard," proclaimed Gladden, almost peevishly.  "Neither am I," agreed Provus.

After the half-inning ended, Provus went to the Twins media people and came back to the mic with the following explanation.  Thornley did not credit Escobar with an assist because, in Thornley's opinion, Escobar should have fielded Kinsler's hot hopper cleanly; had the play not been rescued by Adrianza, Esco would have been charged with an error.  The official scorer does not have to award an assist to the fielder who first touched the ball in that scenario.

I have been an avid baseball fan for over sixty years.  I never knew an official scorer had that much discretion, and I'm relatively sure I have never seen (or heard of) a fielder being deprived of an assist if the ball glances off his person, uniform or equipment only to have his teammate successfully complete the play.  Yet, here is an official comment to MLB Rule 9.10(a) which clearly opens the door for the Official Scorer to rule as Thornley did:

Mere ineffective contact with the ball shall not be considered an assist.

Lesson learned.  I hereby swallow a slice of humble pie.

Sometimes You Must Be Unorthodox.  In the bottom of the sixth inning Angels first baseman Jose Miguel Fernandez, a thirty year old rookie, executed a play the way he was probably coached to do, and it ended up costing his team a run.

With one out the Twins had runners on first (Robbie Grossman) and third (Eddie Rosario), with Max Kepler up to bat.  The Angels needed a double play to get out of the inning.  Kepler hit a a sharp grounder near the bag to Fernandez.  The "book" says in that situation, the first baseman should step on the bag to get the sure out, then throw it to second.  The "catch" is that the receiver of the throw, typically the shortstop, needs to apply a tag on the incoming runner (Grossman) because once the first baseman (Fernandez) has stepped on first, there is no longer a force play at second.  Sure enough, Fernandez stepped on the bag to retire Kepler, but that's where the Angels' trouble began.

Grossman, a six year veteran who might have eyes in back of his head, did not oblige the Angels by dutifully sliding into second into the awaiting tag of Angels shortstop Zack Cozart.  Instead, Robbie pulled up thirty feet short of second, intentionally getting himself into a rundown.  That opened the door for the speedy Rosario to score from third while the Angels were in the process of completing the double play with a time-consuming 3-6-3-4-6 hot box.  The rules state that once the force play is removed from the standard double play, Rosario's run counts provided he crosses the plate before Grossman is tagged.  Unfortunately for the Angels, due to Grossman's smarts and Rosario's speed, that's what happened.

In hindsight, what should Fernandez have done?  Given the fact that Rosario is an extremely fast runner, Fernandez should have gone for the standard 3-6-3 double play instead of first stepping on the bag to retire Kepler.  Even though first base is sometimes called the easiest of the nine defensive positions to play, baseball remains a thinking person's game.  Sometimes you just have to think outside the box.