With one out in the sixth, Arizona's Chris Snyder hits a grounder to Philadelphia third baseman Pedro Feliz. Feliz throws to Chase Utley at second to force Jeff Salazar. But Utley's relay throw for the double play is dropped by Ryan Howard.
Diamondbacks analyst Mark Grace goes on a small crusade to give Howard an error. "He just dropped it. Who cares if you can't assume the double play?" Play-by-play man Daron Sutton insists "Those are the rules. It's not an error."
But....
Rule 10.12(d) Comment: When a fielder muffs a thrown ball that, if held, would have completed a double play or triple play, the official scorer shall charge an error to the fielder who drops the ball and credit an assist to the fielder who made the throw.
Isn't the first baseman supposed to signal where he wants the catcher to throw the ball? But Snyder's throw was right down the line and he threw from his knees.
Snyder probably shouldn't have thrown the ball since he didn't have a great chance of catching Victorino.
Snyder should have started by catching the pitch. And yes, it was a bad throw, but I think most first baseman would concede the base when the only alternative is a fierce collision.
Maybe not though. I guess they don't have to deal with that angle very often and maybe more than a few would do the same.
I was thinking of it along the lines of a 1Ban coming off the bag to catch a throw too wide for them to stretch to in order to save a base. Jackson probably felt he could catch the ball with his foot on the bag, and he's not used to also calculating whether the runner will smoke him if he tries, so he didn't.
Getting a look at one more replay, it was still awful positioning on the bag by Jackson. It wouldn't have been difficult to step over the bag and change the anchor foot from his right to his left. It's standard stuff for a first baseman.
1 Mark Grace is not only the DBacks "colorful" analyst but also a former first baseman who had a very successful career, most famously with the Cubs along with other teams.
He also has a mancrush on the Dodgers' Jonathan Broxton.
The Lakers will have it tougher in Utah, but they could, should even, sneak away with at least one win. Won't be quite as easy though.
Might have been mentioned in previous thread but Jon Meloan didn't have the greatest of starts for Vegas tonight. 4 ER in 5 IP. 1 hr given up, 2 BBs, 1 K.
And sadly, I have a bad feeling the Greg Miller era might also soon be coming to a close. :-(
(LaRoche had 2 hits and a walk again tonight, btw.)
Just insane. As if there was any other way for it to turn out with him standing right on top of first base and then also lunging into the baseline.
There are no words.
Well, you asked ...
Snyder probably shouldn't have thrown the ball since he didn't have a great chance of catching Victorino.
Maybe not though. I guess they don't have to deal with that angle very often and maybe more than a few would do the same.
I was thinking of it along the lines of a 1Ban coming off the bag to catch a throw too wide for them to stretch to in order to save a base. Jackson probably felt he could catch the ball with his foot on the bag, and he's not used to also calculating whether the runner will smoke him if he tries, so he didn't.
Instead, he just willfully stepped into a runner.
He also has a mancrush on the Dodgers' Jonathan Broxton.
Might have been mentioned in previous thread but Jon Meloan didn't have the greatest of starts for Vegas tonight. 4 ER in 5 IP. 1 hr given up, 2 BBs, 1 K.
And sadly, I have a bad feeling the Greg Miller era might also soon be coming to a close. :-(
(LaRoche had 2 hits and a walk again tonight, btw.)
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