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The Steal
By adamg on Sun, 04/26/2009 - 11:47pm
Ellie was in the shower, listening on an AM radio:
... I do wonder what my neighbors thought was going on in my shower, what with all the jumping up and down and whooping and bumping the tile wall with my fist. But I'm sure they understood if they heard what I heard. ... Just one request, Jacoby: do it again, but this time on their turf. ...
Allan Chace revels:
... Some other stuff happened, but who the F cares? ...
Beth loves baseball stuff like that:
... One of the best things about baseball - the thing people who say it's boring don't get - is the way this ho-hum kind of moment turns on a dime, explodes into a moment of blinding excitement, crowd roaring, play-by-play announcer hollering. Tonight, even Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada had been lulled by the routine nature of the Youkilis and Drew at-bats, it seemed - neither noticed as Jacoby Ellsbury suddenly broke into a run from midway down the third-base line. ...
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Comments
Shell shock
[center]
LOL WUT?[/center]
I admit, I lol'ed. Ellsbury
I admit, I lol'ed.
Ellsbury just made it look so easy!
From the Park
Was at the game tonight - very cool - was focused on the batter and all of a sudden you hear a roar come up from the crowd and this white blur flies across the plate. Somehow my mind subconsciously knew what to look for before I had any idea what was happening and I looked immediately to the home plate umpire who signaled safe. I couldn't believe what I had just seen - the kid even seems to slide at supersonic speed. Amazing. Even redsox.com doesn't show him breaking from third - all you see is Petite in the windup and Posada catching the pitch - dumbfounded as Ellsbury crosses the plate. This is a fun team to watch - you never know what's coming next.
Great Fun, Electrifying, But...
... ultimately needless.
IF (and that's always the big word in these things) Ellsbury doesn't steal home, Drew's hit drives him in anyway. Of course, one can argue that the steal unnerved Pettite and gave Drew an additional edge.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Another argument
You have to play for the moment and not what "might" happen. 2 outs, a 1 run game, and JD Drew has already K'd twice (once looking) against Pettite. Pettite was going out of the full stretch, since he didn't expect any base movement and all of the runners would be off either way. His wind-up is so overblown and the third baseman was playing JD Drew with a slight shift to the right putting him further off the bag.
It was a perfect situation (with the exception of having a left handed batter which gave Posada a good look up the line to see Ellsbury coming...he just didn't get the ball in enough time from Pettite who was clueless). If Drew had K'd instead then the momentum shift the other way might have given the Yankees the hope necessary to tattoo a young reliever and win the game instead.
It wasn't absolutely necessary for Jacoby to steal home, but it was far from "needless". You have to evaluate decisions like that in the moment that they're happening and not through hindsight or you'll always have "proof" of all sorts of things.
Other Factors
It worked. I admit, that's the biggest point in its favor. And it was great fun.
However, if Ellsbury is OUT stealing home in that situation, the Yankees get a HUGE momentum shift. Inning over, 3 runners LOB, just a gigantic shift. Not to mention the fact that Drew was basically dissed by his own teammate who thought so little of his hitting prowess that he took it upon himself to try an amazingly brazen play rather than trust Drew to stroke one. Remember, they walked Youkilis to get to Drew, so the Yankees were telling Drew, "You can't get the job done." So, his own teammate says the same thing to him, with his actions? Not cool.
In addition, with bases loaded and Pettite having some uncharacteristic control problems, this was NOT a good percentage play. Any number of other ways to score could have occurred - walk, wild pitch, passed ball, hit (which is what happened following the steal.) The steal worked, but I don't think you can convince me it was a smart play, despite the many (excellent) mitigating factors you point out.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
great play...
...but my wife said the replay made it look like tito was giving ellsbury an earful after the play probably telling him it was a dumb move - anybody else see that?
Don't know about that specifically
But, yeah, sured looked like he was rubbing his head like a proud papa and muttering under his breath "and if I ever catch you doing that again ..."