Just watched the replay, and I understand better what the runner at third did. High chop over the bag, and he chose to go back to 3rd to avoid a possible tag instead of breaking for home immediately on contact. The marvel is the Astros still got the DP. Davis must not be running well.
He’s fresh off the IL from a quad injury.
I knew the IL part but not what the injury was. Perfect for that DP.
That still should have been a contact play, no? The runner at 3B still has the responsibility to either score or prevent a double play.
Totally agree. The runner did the worst possible thing.
I don’t think so.
I think if Davis tries to score, there’s a fairly good chance at a triple play. Bregman definitely gave him a check to see if he was going, and if he had been, it would’ve been an easy tag out followed by a bang bang play at 2nd.
If he tries to score after Bregman fires to 2nd, I suspect he’s out at home by 20 feet. He was wobbling on the base as Bregman turned to throw to 2nd, and would’ve had zero momentum going that way.
Frankly, he was completely fucked no matter what. If he goes on contact, he’s tagged out and it’s an easy triple play.
Also of note, why the fuck didn’t McCormick slide to the back side of home in the 10th? Their catcher was set up well inside the line and if he slides and reaches, I don’t think there’s any chance he gets tagged out. He slid almost straight in.
If Culberson breaks for home right away, Bregman has to throw home or chase him home to get the tag. There is then certainly no play at 2B, and I seriously doubt one at 1B. The only reason Bregman was close on a tag is because Culberson broke back to the bag rather than towards the plate and almost ran right into it. It was a high chopper that hit right in front of the plate, it wasn’t exactly hit sharply. I agree that Culberson can’t wait for the throw to 2B to try to score, but his mistake was not breaking for home immediately. There is certainly no triple play, and I can’t imagine there’d even have been a double play. At worst, there’d have been runners at 1B and 2B with one out. He did the worst thing possible, IMO.
As for McCormick…I agree he slid right into the tag. My guess is because he was tagging from 3B, rather than rounding it coming from 2B, he’s trying for the straightest line possible. As a catcher, you set up differently depending on those two situations for exactly that reason. But yeah…McCormick didn’t exactly react to the throw very well. He goes behind the plate, he’s got a much better chance at scoring.
It makes me wonder who, if anyone, was directing him in at the plate.
Did anyone signal for him to get outside the bag, or just wildly telling him to slide?
I don’t recall. The on-deck hitter, who would have been Castro, should have been right in front of him pointing him to the outside. I don’t remember seeing if he did or not, but now I’m gonna go back to replay and see if it’s apparent.
So I just reviewed the replay, and Castro is nowhere to be seen. So it looks like McCormick didn’t get much help on that.
On the first and third play, the best case scenario was to break for home on contact, which I coached my teams to do and reminded them while I was coaching at third, then to get in a rundown when Bregman threw home. My usual reminder was “Go on any ground ball.” A “normal” triple play would not be possible with him in a rundown. He did the worst case scenario going back to third, and Bregman was able to check him and still get the DP because of Davis’ still being gimpy and slow getting to first.
A surprise to me last night was to learn Gallo was a Gold Glove. A second surprise was his throw.
The grain of salt is that last year’s Gold Glove winners were determined by statistics, not votes.
“Though likely overshadowed by his bat, Gallo had by far his best defensive season in right field, leading all outfielders with 12 Defensive Runs Saved. In fact, the only player with more DRS at any position across the Majors was Arenado (15 DRS).”
He wasn’t in top 10 in assists, but he plucked several HRs at the fence IIRC.
That throw left his hand at 97 mph.