Trezza: O's top 10 defensive plays of the decade

[Frobby]

A few thoughts:

1.  I think Gary Thorne had the call on all 9 of the plays that occurred in Orioles games, and man did he do a great job on all of them.

2.   The Fake is my favorite play of the group, and unfortunately it’s the only one where the clip only shows the live play without any replays.     

3.   Boy I miss watching Manny play 3B.    The frequency with which he turned amazing defensive plays is incredible.    It’s not just any one play, it’s the whole body of work and his sheer athletic ability.    Plus the little grin at the end he can never quite suppress, though he tries.    I loved that.   

4.    The Hardy play they showed was not his best.   The best was when he was going to the hole for a hot grounder, Manny deflected it and Hardy reached back barehanded to grab it and threw the runner out.    You can see it here: https://www.google.com/amp/s/ftw.usatoday.com/2016/05/manny-machado-jj-hardy-baltimore-orioles-white-sox-deflection-laugh-mlb/amp

5.   That Wilkerson catch is really amazing.   Especially the part where he didn’t kill himself.   

[jv225]

Nice list. I don't necessarily agree with the order or a couple of the plays either but fun to watch. Some great calls there by Gary Thorne. He has his flaws of course but I wouldn't want to listen to anyone else really. Mercy

[Moose Milligan]

The Machado fake is the best play I've ever seen.  

[Moose Milligan]

55 minutes ago, Frobby said:

A few thoughts:

1.  I think Gary Thorne had the call on all 9 of the plays that occurred in Orioles games, and man did he do a great job on all of them.

2.   The Fake is my favorite play of the group, and unfortunately it’s the only one where the clip only shows the live play without any replays.     

3.   Boy I miss watching Manny play 3B.    The frequency with which he turned amazing defensive plays is incredible.    It’s not just any one play, it’s the whole body of work and his sheer athletic ability.    Plus the little grin at the end he can never quite suppress, though he tries.    I loved that.   

4.    The Hardy play they showed was not his best.   The best was when he was going to the hole for a hot grounder, Manny deflected it and Hardy reached back barehanded to grab it and threw the runner out.    You can see it here: https://www.google.com/amp/s/ftw.usatoday.com/2016/05/manny-machado-jj-hardy-baltimore-orioles-white-sox-deflection-laugh-mlb/amp

5.   That Wilkerson catch is really amazing.   Especially the part where he didn’t kill himself.   

You'll never see a play like The Fake again.  Had never seen a play like it before, haven't seen it since.

The home run robberies are all great but you'll see more of them over the years to varying degrees and while they're impressive feats of athleticism they don't have the cerebral quality that The Fake had.  

[Snutchy]

14 hours ago, baltfan said:

The Machado fake is the best.  I had never seen it and depended upon Hardy being in the right place. 

AND it was a Hangout game. We went nuts. Orioles came up in the bottom half and walked off on a double off of the scoreboard. Electric.

[Snutchy]

14 hours ago, Frobby said:

Hangout Night.    I was lucky enough to be there.    Great game all the way around, in the heat of our first September playoff race in 15 years.    Couldn’t have been more mesningful.   

Yep. I was right behind you. I was sitting with Scott and LA2. We went absolutely nuts after that play. That was my moment. That's when I realized just how good the Orioles really were. I let myself really believe after that.

[SteveA]

So according to that list, the best defensive play of the entire decade by an Oriole, wearing an Oriole uniform, came on the Orioles' last defensive play of the entire decade.

We probably made 50,000+ defensive plays in the 2010s and the last one was the best.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, SteveA said:

So according to that list, the best defensive play of the entire decade by an Oriole, wearing an Oriole uniform, came on the Orioles' last defensive play of the entire decade.

We probably made 50,000+ defensive plays in the 2010s and the last one was the best.

That would be cool if true, but we lost the final game on a walk-off by  Boston after Betts scored from first on a single by Devers.    If I’m not mistaken, Wilkerson had a brain fart and didn’t throw the ball in/threw to the wrong base.    

Edit - game highlights here: 

 

[SteveA]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

That would be cool if true, but we lost the final game on a walk-off by  Boston after Betts scored from first on a single by Devers.    If I’m not mistaken, Wilkerson had a brain fart and didn’t throw the ball in/threw to the wrong base.    

Edit - game highlights here: 

 

Wow, I'd managed to forget that.   Somehow I thought we had lost on a walkoff HR.

Well, that was the last out we recorded in the decade.

[NCRaven]

Some people argue that years 01,  11, 21, 31, etc., are actually the first years of their decades since the first year was year 1; and 10, 20, 30, 40, etc., are the last years of their decades.  But, then again, I am not one of those people.

[scOtt]

22 hours ago, Frobby said:

Hangout Night.    I was lucky enough to be there.    Great game all the way around, in the heat of our first September playoff race in 15 years.    Couldn’t have been more mesningful.   

Me too. Great night at the Yard! Never seen the place that crazy before. Except for the '96 Playoffs. Bobby Bo salami.

[Moshagge3]

I wish that list could have showcased Matt Wieters a bit more. He was a delight to watch defensively and I'm partial to the (totally illegal under today's rules) play at 3:59 in this video. It's also an absolute laser by Jones. Do I like this play partly because Derek Jeter was the victim? Probably. It was still an amazing play. You can even Thorne say "this will score a run," to tell you how unexpected it was.

Mychal Givens' block of home plate should have at least been an honorable mention, too.

[backwardsk]

Was watching mlb highlights today and there was this one play against Boston.  Runners on 1st and 2nd, ground ball to Manny’s left. He tries to tag the runner, but he puts on the breaks, and moves back toward second.  Manny makes a quick throw to Schoop at 2nd on the force.  Then Schoop throws to Hardy covering third who makes the DP tag.

[VICIOUS]

On 12/20/2019 at 6:40 PM, scOtt said:

Me too. Great night at the Yard! Never seen the place that crazy before. Except for the '96 Playoffs. Bobby Bo salami.

Delmon Young...and the standing ovation for Joba The Hut.

 

[scOtt]

2 hours ago, VICIOUS said:

Delmon Young...and the standing ovation for Joba The Hut.

 

I should have said never seen that before in person.

Delmon, even the youboob videos of the FOX broadcast, you can tell how loud THAT was. Hell, you can see the cameras quivering from the noise!