The Defense Thread, 2015

[Aristotelian]

Matt Wieters made the play of the game in my opinion. 1st and 2nd with none out, Castillo gets the bunt down and it looks like a decent bunt. Wieters charges for it and makes a perfect snap throw for the out on a bang-bang play. That play changed the inning and saved the game.

Also a bizarre play by JJ off the deflection by Roe, called safe but overturned.

Good game defensively for the O's.

[weams]

We're not worthy.

[El Gordo]

We're not worthy.

Really. There are no words.

[Frobby]

We're not worthy.

June 10

You're not kidding, weams. All of this in the second inning

- Jones barehanded a one-hopper off the wall in deepest CF and whirled and threw a strike to Hardy right on the bag who caught the short hop cleanly and made a great tag on Bogaerts.

- Very next play, the Panda golfs a slicing ball off his shoe tops that lands fair but heads well into foul territory. Snider dashes over to pick it up, whirls 180 degrees and fires a perfect one-hopper to 2B to nab Sandoval.

- Next batter, Betts smacks a liner in the RCF gap but Jones makes a running, leaping catch to end the inning.

I don't know if I've ever seen three plays that good in the same inning. But the fourth inning wasn't bad either:

- Adam Jones makes a full-out diving catch in RCF to rob Betts for the second time in the game.

- After a walk, Manny takes a chopper to the backhand side and makes a perfect feed to Flaherty, who ignores the runner bearing down on him and fires to first with mustard on it for the DP.

Joseph also did a good job of pouncing on a swinging bunt with O'Day right in his line of sight and made a strong throw to record the out in the 8th.

On the negative side, Flaherty botched the pivot throw on a very easy DP turn that should have ended the fifth inning, and Davis couldn't handle the hop, allowing a runner to score from 3B.

[El Gordo]

AJ should get the GG again just for today.

[olehippi]

Today's 2nd inning.....

Without doubt, the wildest three consecutive outs I've ever seen executed in my 60+ years of watching Orioles baseball.

[olehippi]

One more thing.............

That wild second inning in Wednesday's Orioles - Red Sox game was definitely one to remember, with Jones and Snider getting outfield assists on consecutive plays when they threw out runners at second base. Add to that Jones wild leaping catch while running at full speed to end the inning.

Steve Melewski mentioned in his column that double assists had last happened with the Orioles in 2009, when Nick Markakis and Nolan Reimold accomplished the feat. And the last time it happened in an MLB game was 30 days ago ….. in Atlanta. Hm-m-m......so, I did a little research and found out that Nick Markakis was involved in both the mention same inning, back-to-back assists.

July 18, 2009 Orioles at Chicago White Sox – fifth inning: Markakis (Getz at home plate); Reimold (Konerko at home plate).

May 10, 2015 Atlanta at Washington - eighth inning: Maybin (Werth at 3rd base) and Markakis (Ramos at 3rd base).

Interesting that Markakis was involved on both these occasions six years apart, and for different teams..

[weams]

June 10

You're not kidding, weams. All of this in the second inning

- Jones barehanded a one-hopper off the wall in deepest CF and whirled and threw a strike to Hardy right on the bag who caught the short hop cleanly and made a great tag on Bogaerts.

- Very next play, the Panda golfs a slicing ball off his shoe tops that lands fair but heads well into foul territory. Snider dashes over to pick it up, whirls 180 degrees and fires a perfect one-hopper to 2B to nab Sandoval.

- Next batter, Betts smacks a liner in the RCF gap but Jones makes a running, leaping catch to end the inning.

I don't know if I've ever seen three plays that good in the same inning. But the fourth inning wasn't bad either:

- Adam Jones makes a full-out diving catch in RCF to rob Betts for the second time in the game.

- After a walk, Manny takes a chopper to the backhand side and makes a perfect feed to Flaherty, who ignores the runner bearing down on him and fires to first with mustard on it for the DP.

Joseph also did a good job of pouncing on a swinging bunt with O'Day right in his line of sight and made a strong throw to record the out in the 8th.

On the negative side, Flaherty botched the pivot throw on a very easy DP turn that should have ended the fifth inning, and Davis couldn't handle the hop, allowing a runner to score from 3B.

Today's 2nd inning.....

Without doubt, the wildest three consecutive outs I've ever seen executed in my 60+ years of watching Orioles baseball.

That wild second inning in Wednesday's Orioles - Red Sox game was definitely one to remember, with Jones and Snider getting outfield assists on consecutive plays when they threw out runners at second base. Add to that Jones wild leaping catch while running at full speed to end the inning..

You just knew they were going to score after that display. The Defense willed the offense.

[weams]

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Adam at the height of his powers.

[canonfaz]

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Adam at the height of his powers.

So great! Jones is a flat out gamer.

[weams]

So great! Jones is a flat out gamer.

Don't tell me he is not a superhero.

[Frobby]

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Adam at the height of his powers.

I'm interested to know more about the metrics shown on the screen -- first step 0.34 sec., 18.3 mph top speed, 97.2% route efficiency. How do those stack up. Is 0.34 seconds for the first step fast or slow? 97.2% route efficiency sounds very good -- exactly how good is it? I'm really asking more for future reference than because of this play. We know this play was awesome.

[Can_of_corn]

I'm interested to know more about the metrics shown on the screen -- first step 0.34 sec., 18.3 mph top speed, 97.2% route efficiency. How do those stack up. Is 0.34 seconds for the first step fast or slow? 97.2% route efficiency sounds very good -- exactly how good is it? I'm really asking more for future reference than because of this play. We know this play was awesome.

Can't say anything about the first step or the efficiency since those numbers haven't stuck in my head. I have seen the real speed demons up around 20 MPH top speed.

[Can_of_corn]

http://www.banishedtothepen.com/compilation-of-public-mlb-statcast-statistics/

Here's a table of compiled statcast data by some guy.

Geez look at that Cain line. .24 first step 21.2 MPH and a .997 efficiency.

[Redskins Rick]

I like that AJ got pied last night by Manny!

Wow, what a defensive game he had.