Having to take The African Queen to a Black Tie Affair tonight in Washington, DC, I had no opportunity to watch tonight's 8-6 loss to The St. Louis Cardinals. Tivo gave me the replay--but for the most part it was fairly forgettable. Some very poor starting pitching, an inability to have the big inning with the bases loaded by Our Washington Nationals and a mind boggling mental mistake in the 4th--an error that directly led to the game changing BIG INNING OF THIS GAME. Although, the 9th inning comeback by Washington before the rain began to come down in buckets was quite interesting. The momentum had changed. The Rain Killed the Rally.
So, I just have some comments about two moments during this ballgame.
In the bottom of the 4th with the bases loaded for The Cardinals, Scott Spezio hit a ONE HOPPER right at Dimitri Young. With every single runner believing Young had caught the ball--all Dimitri had to do was tag Albert Pujols standing directly in front of him ( Albert believing he had to get back to first base), then jog over to first to step on the bag and retire Spezio for a inning ending, rally killing, double play. Instead, Young made a terrible decision. No decision at all. Instead of following through and getting at least one out, Number 21 froze, bitched momentarily at First Base Umpire Tom Hallion, while all the St. Louis runners took off again. David Eckstein ran hard all the way home--and Young FINALLY threw the ball to Brian Schneider way too late. Dimitri Did Not attempt to tag Pujols. He DID NOT STEP ON FIRST. Not a single Cardinals Runner was retired. St. Louis went on the score 4 more runs---building a commanding 8-1 Lead. Just an awful choice by Dimitri Young. I understand he's not much of a fielder, but to totally freeze on a ball he surely knew HE DID NOT CATCH, just ludicrous!! The Result of this play basically decided the outcome early. Wow, Dimitri--I would love to ask you what you were thinking on that one?
When Jim Edmonds scorched an opposite field grounder RIGHT AT, AND PAST RYAN ZIMMERMAN this evening, it brought back memories of something I noticed about Ryan's game in 2006. Number 11 is, without a doubt, one of the finest fielders I have ever seen going to his left and right, charging in on the chopper or bunt-while throwing to first. And, the BEST I have EVER SEEN at chasing foul balls down the right field line. On all those plays, Ryan Zimmerman is a Gold Glover. But, what he continues to have problems with are smashes RIGHT AT HIM. Granted, they are scary shots, downright smokers giving Ryan split second reaction time. They don't call it the "HOT CORNER" for nothing. I am not here to criticize him-he's just too fine of a young player. If at all possible though, I would love to see him improve his play on balls hit DIRECTLY AT HIM. Earlier this week, another "AT-HIM" Ball ate him up. Edmonds' tonight the same, both hits resulting in run scoring plays. Just something I have noticed after watching Ryan Zimmerman so closely over the past year and one half at RFK STADIUM.
Tonight's InGame Photo--(AP) Tom Gannam
3 comments:
SBF,
You did not miss much, trust the food was good. Anyhow.....
Is it me or does OUR team have more mental break downs that most. Nook standing and watching his bunt (never even tried to get out of the box, Young last night.....you know there are about 25 or these already this year.
Is it just that I am watching more games on the road this year or is it more than that? I think Acta (I am starting to appreciate him more, really) has set a bad tone as far as expectations of these guys. Perhaps he had to or they work have imploded but as some point it is time to say enough on the brain cramps. Yes?
jayb--if you notice, it seems to me that most of the mental mistakes come from the journeyman players, those veterans that are looking to see stay in the game or trying to make a mark for themselves--which makes up a majority of our team right now. Zimmerman, Schneider, to a lesser extent Kearns have not been involved in many mental mistakes. Most of their errors are physical, trying to overthrow, mistakes that are a usual part of the game. In many respects, some of our players make these mental mistakes, because that's just who they are. Good enough to play Major League Baseball, but not the top level talent. Nook not running on the bunt is pretty amazing, though, but that replay of Dimitri last night was even better. If anything, just get one out. That mental mistake was the game changing moment. But all in all, its still just one lost. If they can win today and go 5-2 on this road trip you would have to say its been a successful week. Thanks.
And, the Food AND DRINK was quite good. The African Queen deserved the break.
SBF, you're right that Dmitri's reaction to the play was quite strange. He tried to sell catching the line drive, but you're absolutely right . . . it shouldn't have made a difference.
One other awkward play was Kearns being forced at the plate on a fairly slow tapper to first that Pujols (to his credit) barehanded and threw a strike to home. Knight noted Kearns didn't take a big enough walking lead off third on the play.
Aside from that, there was the routine complaining about the strike zone. That's getting really old really quick.
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