Greatest Melvin Mora Mental Lapses

[casadeozo]

After his boneheaded inning in the bottom of the 7th last night, I'm reminded of the many awful decisions Melvin has made when he decided to think for himself.

My personal favorite is when he was the tying run on at 3rd in the bottom of the 9th, he decides to tag up from 3rd on a lazy fly ball about 10 feet behind the infield. He was out at home by about 15 feet. The O's lost that game.

[Hank Scorpio]

After his boneheaded inning in the bottom of the 7th last night, I'm reminded of the many awful decisions Melvin has made when he decided to think for himself.

My personal favorite is when he was the tying run on at 3rd in the bottom of the 9th, he decided to tag up from 3rd on a lazy fly ball about 10 feet behind the infield. He was out by about 15 feet. The O's lost that game.

The worst part was that he wasn't the tying run.

The tying run was on 2nd base.

And last night was more Ramon Hernandez' fault than anyone's, thinking he could run faster than he could throw the baseball...

[Frobby]

After his boneheaded inning in the bottom of the 7th last night, I'm reminded of the many awful decisions Melvin has made when he decided to think for himself.

My personal favorite is when he was the tying run on at 3rd in the bottom of the 9th, he decided to tag up from 3rd on a lazy fly ball about 10 feet behind the infield. He was out by about 15 feet. The O's lost that game.

Actually, the ball was further out than that, as the infielder caught the ball over his shoulder in shallow left. The incredibly stupid part was that he was NOT the tying run. If he had scored, the O's still would have been down a run.

[Tx Oriole]

Goodness another one to bash Mora. Geez it must be a very slow day for you if that is all you can think of to do. Sorry, but it just seems like O's players are bashed more than they used to be.

[TGO]

Goodness another one to bash Mora. Geez it must be a very slow day for you if that is all you can think of to do. Sorry, but it just seems like O's players are bashed more than they used to be.

It's the interwebs. I guarantee players were bashed plenty in the old days, it just wasn't being published anywhere. Unless the player was being bashed by a newspaper reporter, and they often were (sometimes for no particular reason).

[Lefty0315]

The worst part was that he wasn't the tying run.

The tying run was on 2nd base.

And last night was more Ramon Hernandez' fault than anyone's, thinking he could run faster than he could throw the baseball...

A lot of blame has to go to Mora for the botched run down. Mora should not have been Hernandez and third. With Mora palying monkey in the middle a throw from Hernandez would have been cut off by Mora who was in no postion to make a tag or dropped by Cintron because Mora was in the way. After Mora made the throw home he needs to keep going and cover the plate.

[casadeozo]

Its just a light hearted thread as he's one of the worst decision makers to ever wear the uniform. He's aggressive which is good, but has no ability to turn it on and off.

[tywright]

I think it was last year against Oakland...the squeeze bunt attempt in the 9th gone wrong.

Edit:

http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2007/B04230BAL2007.htm

ORIOLES 9TH: STREET REPLACED EMBREE (PITCHING); Payton walked;

Patterson doubled to right [Payton to third]; GOMEZ BATTED FOR

BAKO; Gomez was called out on strikes; Roberts singled to center

[Payton scored, Patterson to third]; On a bunt Mora grounded out

(pitcher to first) [Roberts to second]; Markakis was walked

intentionally; Tejada grounded out (second to first); 1 R, 2 H,

0 E, 3 LOB. Athletics 6, Orioles 5.

He tried to squeeze bunt CPat, without actually telling Patterson. And this with 1 out and Markakis on deck. Unbelievable

[TGO]

Its just a light hearted thread as he's one of the worst decision makers to ever wear the uniform. He's aggressive which is good, but has no ability to turn it on and off.

I wouldn't put him up there with Alan Wiggins as one of the worst, but Melvin certainly is not a tactical genius between the lines.

[Hank Scorpio]

A lot of blame has to go to Mora for the botched run down. Mora should not have been Hernandez and third. With Mora palying monkey in the middle a throw from Hernandez would have been cut off by Mora who was in no postion to make a tag or dropped by Cintron because Mora was in the way. After Mora made the throw home he needs to keep going and cover the plate.

I'm not going to sit here and defend Mora, but Alex Cintron was standing at third base and Melvin was out of the baseline. There was no reason whatsoever for Hernandez not to throw the ball.

[casadeozo]

I think it was last year against Oakland...the squeeze bunt attempt in the 9th gone wrong.

Edit:

http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2007/B04230BAL2007.htm

ORIOLES 9TH: STREET REPLACED EMBREE (PITCHING); Payton walked;

Patterson doubled to right [Payton to third]; GOMEZ BATTED FOR

BAKO; Gomez was called out on strikes; Roberts singled to center

[Payton scored, Patterson to third]; On a bunt Mora grounded out

(pitcher to first) [Roberts to second]; Markakis was walked

intentionally; Tejada grounded out (second to first); 1 R, 2 H,

0 E, 3 LOB. Athletics 6, Orioles 5.

He tried to squeeze bunt CPat, without actually telling Patterson. And this with 1 out and Markakis on deck. Unbelievable

Yes! This one is in the top 3 for sure

[hammer310]

Ramon's fault, not Mora.

Plus that grounder wasn't easy, but he probably should have had it.

[Fred Manfraud]

I wonder how many Orioles' players log on and read this board? I wonder what effect seeing this sort of thing over and over again would have on the collective energy and enthusiasm of the team? I wonder why so many of the players get so jaded toward the fans over time? I wonder how I'd feel if the biggest mistakes I've ever made were re-hashed in a public forum for sport?

I wonder lots of things....

I am not questioning that you actually wonder that, but personally I had never considered any of that. Do you think it's possible a Major League baseball player's performance would suffer because of something they read on a message board? And that maybe their energy and enthusiasm would be lower than what it should, even if subconsciously, because of a few comments. Doesn't seem feasible to me.

[Abadie]

I wonder how many Orioles' players log on and read this board? I wonder what effect seeing this sort of thing over and over again would have on the collective energy and enthusiasm of the team? I wonder why so many of the players get so jaded toward the fans over time? I wonder how I'd feel if the biggest mistakes I've ever made were re-hashed in a public forum for sport?

I wonder lots of things....

I wonder how nice it would be to make millions of dollars to play baseball in one of the most beautiful stadiums in the country....I dont feel sorry for them at all.

[casadeozo]

I wonder how many Orioles' players log on and read this board? I wonder what effect seeing this sort of thing over and over again would have on the collective energy and enthusiasm of the team? I wonder why so many of the players get so jaded toward the fans over time? I wonder how I'd feel if the biggest mistakes I've ever made were re-hashed in a public forum for sport?

I wonder lots of things....

I too would worry about said player's mental state if he is affected by the things said on a fan forum. Have you ever read Mike Lupica or any of the columnists in the Post and Daily News much more scathing than anything you'll find on here. The topic is legitimate. It has nothing to do with his performance at the plate, or his age. It has everything to do with the mental mistakes he makes, which cost the O's runs and losses.