The Defense Thread, 2015

[TouchemAll]

That was one of the areas that concerned me when Hardy went on the DL. I believe Hardy is probably the best in the business at laying down the tag on the runner.

Cabrera showed his worth last night for sure.

Yep and I think they'll be a little cautions taking off on Caleb tonight.

[sportsfan8703]

2nd game in the last week where Cabrera let a ball get through the IF without knocking it down to prevent a run. 2 runs.

[Il BuonO]

2nd game in the last week where Cabrera let a ball get through the IF without knocking it down to prevent a run. 2 runs.

Yep, he dived over the ball. Either he misjudged where the ball was going to be or his vision is bad. In any case, it looked bad.

If you have to keep a guy based only on how he tags out runners there's a problem.

[Frobby]

Yep, he dived over the ball. Either he misjudged where the ball was going to be or his vision is bad. In any case, it looked bad.

If you have to keep a guy based only on how he tags out runners there's a problem.

It wasn't a terrible play, but it's one JJ would have made.

That deGrom hit between Jones and Lough wasn't pretty, either.

[Aristotelian]

Bumping this thread.

5/11/2015 Orioles win 5-2 vs. Blue Jays. Orioles did not need much defense to support the O's combined 13 K's.

However, Delmon Young made an outstanding play running down a ball in the gap that would have gotten the Jays within 1 with the tying run in scoring position. Quietly he is holding his own defensively.

With two men on, the final out was a routine grounder to Manny that the threw in the dirt but Davis scooped it to end the ballgame.

[Frobby]

May 19

There were back to back plays yesterday where Manny and then Hardy ran way into LF to chase down pop-ups. Excellent plays by both of them. I don't know where Travis Snider was playing, but he wasn't even in the picture on either catch even though both balls were about halfway between the skin of the infield and the outfield wall.

Jones also made a nice running catch of a sinking liner in right CF where he got an excellent jump on the ball. Palmer remarked about what a good CF he has become, and I tend to agree. I thought last year was his best defensive season, and he has played really well this year.

[Frobby]

May 20

The 7th inning had the following sequence:

A slow chopper eluded Chen and when Navarro tried to charge it and throw, he tripped just as he was cocking to throw the ball (not clear that he had a good grip on the ball, either) and had to eat it. The play properly was scored as a single, but it was a play that an excellent 2B could make.

A ball that was sliced into RF eluded Young on one hop, who then misplayed the carom off the RF wall. It was scored as a triple and an RBI, but in my opinion if Nick Markakis was in RF he probably would have cut it off for a single, or at worst would have played it cleanly off the wall for a double and kept the runner from scoring.

A batter hit a ground ball to Hardy, playing in, and he picked it up quickly and snapped a belt high throw to Joseph, who was in perfect position and tagged the charging runner. Not an amazing play, but a very solid execution of a very critical play by both players.

Earlier in the game, Chen made a nice leaping catch of a soft liner hit over his head. In the 9th, Tyler Wilson failed to stop a chopper through the box that went for a single, that I think some of our pitchers would have stopped.

[backwardsk]

Machado had a real nice play deep behind the bag to his right, backhanded it, and threw a bullet to Davis. Made it look routine.

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[Frobby]

May 22

Manny made an excellent diving stop on a ball in the hole and gunned out the runner.

Snider made a diving catch coming in on a shallow liner.

Hunter charged a chopper in front of the mound and caught the runner on 3B in no man's land.

Davis scooped two throws from Hardy back to back.

Brach charged a slow chopper towards the 3B side but threw wide to 1B and the batter ended up at 2B.

Britton charged a very similar ball and gunned it to Davis for the final out of the game.

[backwardsk]

Hunter also got a runner caught off third in a run down. Paredes made a nice play on a 4-1 to Wilson.

Whoops. I meant to add the play that OFFNY is talking about.

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[OFFNY]

May 22

Manny made an excellent diving stop on a ball in the hole and gunned out the runner.

Snider made a diving catch coming in on a shallow liner.

Hunter charged a chopper in front of the mound and caught the runner on 3B in no man's land.

Davis scooped two throws from Hardy back to back.

Brach charged a slow chopper towards the 3B side but threw wide to 1B and the batter ended up at 2B.

Britton charged a very similar ball and gunned it to Davis for the final out of the game.

Thanks, Frank.

I think that Hunter made another excellent play, also (at least the Marlins announcers and myself thought so.)

With nobody out and a runners on 1st base, Hunter was falling to his left after releasing the pitch. He then then recovered and reversed his field (going to his right, where the ball was hit), and then picked up the ball and fired a 95 MPH fastball to Chris Davis at 1st base to just nip Realmuto by a step.

If that were an infield single, there would have been runners on 1st and 2nd base with nobody out for the Marlins, and the potential for a big inning.

[El Gordo]

I thought that Manny play was vintage Brooks.

[UpstateNYfan]

May 22

Manny made an excellent diving stop on a ball in the hole and gunned out the runner.

Snider made a diving catch coming in on a shallow liner.

Hunter charged a chopper in front of the mound and caught the runner on 3B in no man's land.

Davis scooped two throws from Hardy back to back.

Brach charged a slow chopper towards the 3B side but threw wide to 1B and the batter ended up at 2B.

Britton charged a very similar ball and gunned it to Davis for the final out of the game.

The Miami broadcast showed one of the scoops. It appeared as though Davis chose to take the short hop instead of taking the ball in the air by stretching. If he's more comfortable that way, fine, but he made it look harder than it was.

[Frobby]

Thanks, Frank.

I think that Hunter made another excellent play, also (at least the Marlins announcers and myself thought so.)

With nobody out and a runners on 1st base, Hunter was falling to his left after releasing the pitch. He then then recovered and reversed his field (going to his right, where the ball was hit), and then picked up the ball and fired a 95 MPH fastball to Chris Davis at 1st base to just nip Realmuto by a step.

If that were an infield single, there would have been runners on 1st and 2nd base with nobody out for the Marlins, and the potential for a big inning.

I didn't see that play until the highlights show. I agree, it was excellent. The Paredes to Wilson play from the OF grass also was excellent, on both ends. All in all, the pitchers were involved in a lot of important defensive plays in this game, including, of course, Henderson Alvarez's terrible overthrow of 3B on Hardy's mediocre bunt that allowed two runs to score. Pitcher defense is an underrated part of the game and it's a part that Buck's Orioles excel at.

Manny's play was even better than I originally thought on a second look because the previous hop was pretty high and for Manny to dive and time the short hop was really tricky. I don't know that any other 3B in baseball makes that one.

[Frobby]

May 25

Chen started a 1-5-3 double play and nearly started a second one (they didn't get the runner at 1B but did get the lead runner at 3B).

Young made a bad throw on a bloop single into the corner and a runner scored from 1B on a single.