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OUT OF LEFT FIELD |
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 Carlos Ruiz chops a heroic squibber. |
World Series 3rd game
an aesthete’s delight
By STAN ISAACS
of TheColumnists.com
To treasure is the third game of this World Series, particularly the late innings in the early morning of a surrealist scene in which more than 40,000 fans were waving towels long after the clock had stuck midnight.
The game had elements beyond the elements.
First was the rain, a driving rain hours before the game which made many people think the game at the Philadelphia ball park would not be played.
Second was the early action. The Phils took a first-inning lead, the Tampa Bay Rays tied it in the second, the Phils went ahead 2-1 on a home run by Carlos Ruiz in the second and then 4-1 on successive homers by Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in the sixth inning.
The Rays scored two runs in the seventh aided mightily by a blown call of the first base umpire Tom Hallion to pull to within 4-3. And then what is called “small ball” took over. For the sophisticated fan who enjoys nuances beyond home runs small ball can be delightful.
B.J. Upton provided the small ball in the eighth. He beat out an infield single, He stole second. He stole third and then continued home when catcher Ruiz’s throw bounced off him and away from third ,baseman Pedro Feliz. This tied the game, 4-4. And it inspired admiration for Upton’s one-man heroics.
Earlier in the game, when the Phils’ Jimmy Rollins singled and then jigged off first base to try and rattle Rays’ pitcher Matt Garza, TV analyst Tim McCarver recalled that great base stealer Lou Brock often did this. I go back a little further than McCarver, and I recalled Jackie Robinson’s inimitable style of jiggling off first base, taunting pitchers. And Robinson, too, made his way home on stolen bases and wild throws just like Upton’s actions.
The events in the Phillies’ ninth were the stuff of inside baseball joy. It was set up by lead-off hitter Eric Bruntlett getting hit by a pitch. He went to second base on a wild pitch and continued to third when catcher Dioner Navarro’s throw to second sailed into center field.
That set up as interesting a crucial baseball situation as one can hope to see. It all stemmed from Rays manager Joe Maddon’s intriguing strategy to stop the Phillies. He finished off an intentional walk to Shane Victorino and intentionally walked pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs to load the bases. With none out, of course.
He then made his unusual move of bringing in right fielder Ben Zobrist to be the fifth infielder, a move not unprecedented in regular season games, but one that McCarver said he could not recall ever being used in a World Series.
Maddon was hoping the extra infielder would give the Rays a better defense against a ground ball for a force play at home, perhaps a double play. It was also calculated to have an effect on Ruiz, the batter--psych him out you might say.
How fascinating it was to admire Maddon’s effort, to wonder if the move would have an effect on Ruiz for a strikeout or a grounder. It worked to the extent that Ruiz swung at some high pitches that would have been called balls, which he fouled off.
Maddon’s ploy was foiled by an action
that even five infielders couldn’t overcome. Ruiz chopped
a squibber some 63 feet down the third base line. It couldn’t
be handled cleanly enough by third-baseman Evan Langoria. His
desperate attempt at an underhanded shovel-throw to the catcher
went awry.
The Phillies won, 5-4. They scored in an inning in which the
only ball that reached the outfield was the wild throw by the
catcher.
A game that had started an hour-and-a-half late because of the rain didn’t end until almost 2 a.m. in the East.
Deep in the recesses of memory, I recalled an action similar to Maddon’s move that may well have coped with the Ruiz squibber. It was the idea of that long ago baseball genius Branch Rickey when he was the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
During a spring training game, Rickey devised an action to cope with a similar situation when the bases were loaded and the opposing pitcher was at bat. It was Rickey’s thought that there was no need for three outfielders to defend against pitchers-weak hitters.
So he had his manager bring an outfielder into the infield. This was Cal Abrams. He was positioned between home plate and third base. It would have been just the place for Longoria to have handled Ruiz’ chopped hit. Maddon, unfortunately, had placed his outfielder in the middle of the infield.
In the Dodgers situation, as I recall, the pitcher struck out or popped out so Rickey’s strategy didn’t matter. The kicker to it all was Abrams’ comment. He did not appreciate being placed in a position so close to the batter, where he was vulnerable to a line drive into his teeth. Abrams, who was Jewish and often made jocular comments about himself, said, “I notice that he didn’t put one of our Aryans in the line of fire between home and third.”
©2008 by Stan Isaacs. The Stan Isaacs caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. This column first posted Oct. 27, 2008.
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