IGT, 4/15/2009 vs. San Diego

[Guest Edgy DC]

I was stuck out last night.

[Frayed Knot]

I think Murphy decided that it was best to throw on the run rather than set himself and that if he was going to do that then the longer throw to Wright was out of the question, so he went to Reyes instead. I'm not saying it was the right decision but I think it's what he was thinking. Oddly, that was about the only explanation that did NOT occur to Keith & Ron as they certainly tossed out enough other theories.

Then, lost in the whole 'dumbth' of Murphy's play, was how bad of a relay Jose made. Maybe he was so surprised to get it that he never got a good grip on the ball but you can't be three-hopping a throw from deep SS. An even semi-good toss and that guy was dead meat.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I was out running and listening on the radio.

Edit -- Yes, Reyes made a poor throw, but he hadn't expected it, had to short hop it, and then had trpouble making the quick transition. I thought the runner was meat too.

[metirish]

I thought Keith was spot on when showing how Wright had set himself up for the cut off throw he was expecting. Was that just a bad play by Murphy or lack of baseball instincts?

[Frayed Knot]

metirish wrote: I thought Keith was spot on when showing how Wright had set himself up for the cut off throw he was expecting. Was that just a bad play by Murphy or lack of baseball instincts?

Bad play caused by lack of instincts - at least lack of outfielder instincts.

Murphy fielded the ball on the run and figured that getting rid of it quickly was more important than setting and throwing. Wrong! That works for 100 ft throws across the diamond but not 200 ft throws. His job there is to get the ball to the cut-off man inside the basepath - Wright in this case - so that he can decide what to do with it and so that the 2nd throw, if made, is the shorter and (hopefully) more accurate one. There's no reason for an OFer to go to the first cut-off man (outside the basepath) unless he had a go back for a ball to the point where he'd have trouble reaching the inner infield.

[metirish]

I really hope that these misplays by Murphy won't have a cumulative effect where he starts thinking about them and is going out the the field with that on his mind. He looked lost in the dugout after that play last night.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I guess thinking "quick release" was him displaying infielder's instincts as an outfielder.