I believe I've already mentioned my love of postseason baseball. I believe I mentioned it in this very space, oh, a few hours ago. Well, I'm gonna talk about it again. At least that's one thing my detractors can't accuse me of lying about (not that it would stop them).
Thanks to the wonder of Tivo and the 30-second-skip Easter egg, I don't usually watch a baseball game pitch-by-pitch unless the Giants are involved. That rule goes out the window in the postseason. Because of that, I saw the ball that Akinori Iwamura hit and Dustin Pedroia bobbled in the ninth inning.
That was one of the more ridiculous scoring calls I've seen recently.
One, there was no bad hop.
It sounded like Buck Martinez tried to imply as much when he pointed out it hit the seam between the dirt and carpet. That simply wasn't the case. It was coming hard and did it the seam so Pedroia was probably half-expecting it to kick (I would have been), but it was a true hop.
Incidentally, why does TBS run a nightmare like Martinez out to do in-game analysis while the brilliance of Harold Reynolds languishes in the studio? A topic for another day.
Two, Pedroia got almost his entire glove on the ball.
Yes, it hit him in the heel. But anyone who has played baseball knows that, if you get that much leather on the ball, you should make the play. That much leather means it was only the slightest, correctable miscalculation that kept the ball out of the pocket. It's not always an error because sometimes just getting in such a position requires an exceptional effort. But, that brings me to...
Three, it would not have been an exceptional play had Pedroia made it.
I'm not saying it was an easy play. I'm not even saying it it was routine. If that's you or me out there, it's a hit for sure. But we're talking about professionals, the elite, the best of the best. He didn't have to dive, he didn't have to lunge. It was a simple backhand. I promise you Pedroia makes that play 99 percent of the time.
Look, I don't like Pedroia. He seems arrogant, but that's not it—arrogance would hardly make him unique amongst pro athletes. I'm not gonna pretend it's for a valid reason. Plain and petty, he is a very good player for a team I really dislike. But he is very good.
But I don't draw attention to the play to call him out for his mistake.
Besides, the play ended up being irrelevant and, if it hadn't, I can promise you Pedroia would take little solace in the official ruling.
No, the play made me think of an article I wrote about Barry Bonds. In it, I mentioned that comparing statistics across generations is meaningless though fun. I listed a bunch of reasons, but I was talking about Bonds so I naturally focused on changes that would affect power numbers.
However, that Pedroia error/hit made me realize there has been another HUGE change that further accounts for rising offensive numbers and in an almost impossible way to quantify—official scoring.
3 comments Last one added 8 months ago — Leave a Comment
Rocky Miskelly 8 months ago
I have been asking this question for three years, "Who IS keeping score of the scorekeepers." Good article and great question
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Andrew Nuschler 8 months ago
Rocky,
Yeah, it's something you notice when you watch the game on a day-to-day basis. But for some reason, I always forget about it after the last out. Guess I'm not alone and that's why it's flying under the radar.
Thanks for the feedback.
Andrew
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Andrew Nuschler 8 months ago
I don't know what the protocol on commenting to one's one story is but...
I cannot believe they just gave the Ruiz a hit on that ball hit to Furcal. That is a catcher running, Furcal has an absolute cannon, and it was a routine play to his left. Jesus, he had the ball in his mitt. That's an even better example of this nonsense than Pedroia's.
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