The defense thread, 2018

[Frobby]

30 minutes ago, bobmc said:

Not the O's but in the 13th Judge robs Caleb...fans avoid him, LOL

Where’s Jeffrey Maier when you need him?

[spiritof66]

2 hours ago, bobmc said:

 

Did Meals say after the game what his reasoning was in not calling Sanchez out, or did Buck day what the umps were telling him during their discussion? I didn’t grasp it in live action, but on the replay it was pretty obvious Sanchez was ahead of Stanton and should have been called out, too,

[schittenden]

2 hours ago, spiritof66 said:

Did Meals say after the game what his reasoning was in not calling Sanchez out, or did Buck day what the umps were telling him during their discussion? I didn’t grasp it in live action, but on the replay it was pretty obvious Sanchez was ahead of Stanton and should have been called out, too,

They said Stanton was out for abandoning his attempt to advance.

My question is, why did Buck not challenge the play? The rules allow you to challenge whether a runner passed another runner before the other runner was out. That would have seemed to be the play to challenge. Now, whether a runner abandoned his attempt to advance and was thus out is not something the can be challenged. Perhaps the umpire was saying Stanton was out for abandoning his attempt to advance before he ran past Sanchez. That would be a very odd call though as he was on the foul line and inside the base path until he passed Sanchez. I might have tried to challenge on passing a runner before he was out regardless. Maybe the replay officials (who presumably have a rulebook nearby) could have cleaned up the mess. All’s well that ends well, I guess. 

[backwardsk]

5 hours ago, bobmc said:

 

Chris Davis should cover home on every play where a runner tries to score from first.  

[InsideCoroner]

8 hours ago, Frobby said:

April 6, Game 8

Tonight’s game featured one of the most memorable defensive plays in a long time.   In the 11th inning of a tie game, with a runner on third base, Mychal Givens uncorked a wild pitch and it looked like this game was over.    But Caleb Joseph scrambled back to get it and flipped it backhand to the plate while Givens was charging towards the plate.   Givens slid to the inside of the plate, caught the throw and slapped a tag on Didi Gregorius while blocking Gregorius’ route to the plate with his upper leg.    I don’t know if Givens intentionally took a route that blocked the plate, but it certainly was effective!     The out call stood after a replay review, and later it was clarified that there is no rule preventing a pitcher from blocking the plate.

Great hustle and alertness by both Joseph and Givens,  great flip by Joseph, great slide and catch by Givens, who as a former infielder is probably our only Orioles pitcher who would have made that play.   

I really think that was one of the all-time best defensive plays I’ve seen from the Orioles, especially at such a crucial moment. I thought the game was over when the ball got past Caleb. Gregorius wasn’t even remotely close to the plate due to Givens’ quick thinking, and then they go on to win it in 14. Outstanding.

[foxfield]

10 minutes ago, InsideCoroner said:

I really think that was one of the all-time best defensive plays I’ve seen from the Orioles, especially at such a crucial moment. I thought the game was over when the ball got past Caleb. Gregorius wasn’t even remotely close to the plate due to Givens’ quick thinking, and then they go on to win it in 14. Outstanding.

It was very very good.

It wasn't this good:

 

[InsideCoroner]

24 minutes ago, foxfield said:

It was very very good.

It wasn't this good:

 

Sure. Which is why I said “one of the best”, and not “the best”.

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, InsideCoroner said:

Sure. Which is why I said “one of the best”, and not “the best”.

It was one of those plays you’ll probably remember years after the fact.    In fact, I can just imagine that in 2030 there will be some play at the plate and OFFNY will make a long post describing the Caleb-Givens play with a video link.   After all, he’s capable of comparing a baseball play to something he saw in a basketball or football game 20 years ago.   What an amazing memory OFFNY has.   It astounds me.

[foxfield]

21 minutes ago, InsideCoroner said:

Sure. Which is why I said “one of the best”, and not “the best”.

I agreed....  

[OFFNY]

11 hours ago, El Gordo said:

 

https://www.mlb.com/video/orioles-nab-gregorius-at-home/c-1911139383

 

o

 

The play was mildly reminiscent of Jonathan Schoop's linebacker play in the 2014 ALDS against the Tigers.

 

 

 

o

[LA2]

12 hours ago, Frobby said:

April 6, Game 8

Great hustle and alertness by both Joseph and Givens,  great flip by Joseph, great slide and catch by Givens, who as a former infielder is probably our only Orioles pitcher who would have made that play.   

And a doff of the cap to the padded backstop for giving such a true bounce back to Caleb for his great flip!

[LA2]

11 minutes ago, OFFNY said:

o

 

The play was mildly reminiscent of Jonathan Schoop's linebacker play in the 2014 ALDS against the Tigers.

 

 

 

o

Haha, I hadn't noticed before how Schoop's right hand shoved Kelly's head back into place.

[ExileAngelos]

What an awesome play Givens made there.  One of the most exciting plays in baseball is the play at the plate.  Thank God that interference nonsense didn't get invoked here.  Just a bang bang natural play that rightfully stood.

[backwardsk]

Manny made a great play in the hole today showing off his cannon.

[Frobby]

April 7, Game 9

Lots of noticeable defensive plays in this game.

In the second inning, with a runner on 2nd, Chris Tillman speared a grounder up the middle and caught the runner in no man’s land, ran towards him and made him commit towards 3B and threw in plenty of time to trap the runner in a rundown, nicely executed by the O’s.

- Later in the second inning, Gardner hit a ground single past a diving Chris Davis that knocked in two runs.    Not a bad play by Davis, but IMO a ball he was slightly slow to react to, that he might have made 2-3 years ago.   The O’s did catch Gardner in a rundown between 1st and 2nd.

- In the third, Davis started a nifty 1-6-3 DP where he did a great job of quickly feeding the ball to Manny and Tillman did an excellent job of covering 1B.

- In the 5th, with runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out, Judge hit a grounder deep in the hole that just ticked off Beckham’s glove, but Manny gloved it and with all his momentum headed towards 3B, threw across his body and the ball beat Judge by a half-step.    Sports Center top 10 play worthy IMO.   Not many shortstops could make that throw.    It’s the first really great play I’ve seen from Manny this year.

- In the sixth, with two runners on, Sisco made a great save on a potential wild pitch far to his backhand side.    Unfortunately, a few pitches later, Tillman bounced one that Sisco was able to keep in front of him but the runners took off and Sisco didn’t react quickly enough to make a throw.    I’m not sure Sisco could have thrown the runner out at third anyway, but he might have had a shot.  

- Just after that, a batter hit a bloop into short RF and Davis attempted and over the shoulder catch on the run but it popped out of his glove.    Definitely not an error, but a play he could have made.

- Bleier then came in and induced a grounder in the hole on which Beckham started a nice 5-4-3 DP.

- In the 7th, on a two-run single, Mancini did a good job of hitting the cutoff man, who caught the batter between first and second and the O’s executed the rundown for the out.

- In the 8th, with runners on 1st and 3rd, the Yankees attempted a double steal but Schoop caught Sisco’s throw and fired back home and they caught the man on 3rd in a rundown.

- In addition to everything else, Sisco did an admirable job of blocking numerous errant pitches from Tillman and Yacobonis.   Tillman threw two wild pitches, but it could have been five.