Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The Dumbest Play in Baseball

Ryan Church did an admirable job last night hitting in the #2 spot in the order. I like Castillo up there but with him struggling just to run to first base I think Church will see this as an opportunity to show he can produce.

Nobody has been better to start the season, except for maybe Angel Pagan, and Church has already impressed me both at the plate and in the field.

Until last night when we made the dumbest play in baseball.

I believe it was in the 3rd inning with the Mets up 2-0 that Reyes led off the inning with a double. Fantastic way to start the inning. Now any intelligent person knows that a single to any spot in the ballpark score Reyes.

So why in the name of all this good did Ryan Church feel the need to sacrifice bunt? Don't try and tell me he was bunting for a base hit. He never bunts for a base hit. The infield wasn't so out of position like they are for Delgado that he could take advantage of that.

To me that is the dumbest play in baseball: a sacrifice bunt with Reyes on second. I can see laying down a bunt if it was Delgado on second so this way it ensures a run scores on a single. But bunting with Reyes on second is just idiotic.

So of course they walk Wright and Beltran hits into a double play. Inning over. I'm hoping this was Church acting on his own and not a planned play from the dugout because then Willie Randolph should not just hand his managerial duties over to Jerry Manuel.

Listen to me Church, you're hitting over .325 for the first time in your life. Ride it until this dream sequence stops. No bunting with Reyes on in front of you. Period.

2 comments:

Coop said...

here's another thing that kills me - delgado and the shift. I see they are running the shift on him, every one knows except for him it seems. Then why doesn't Willie or HoJo or whoever call for him to bunt. As the dude behind me said last night - he'd get a triple out of it LOL

bryan said...

all he needs to do is drop a couple down and they'll shift back. delgado did bunt last year and got a base hit. everyone was kind of laughing. still though, this guy needs to hit with power.