from Amazon
Friday, October 28, 2011
Was Cruz not deep enough in the 9th inning?
In this article, Tom Verducci, not an intellectual giant when it comes to sabermetrics, said this:
There is a universal rule in baseball about playing the outfield with a lead, especially a two-run lead, and three outs or fewer from victory. Under no circumstance can the ball be hit over an outfielder’s head—not unless it’s flying all the way out of the ballpark. It’s called no-doubles defense. The outfielders have to station themselves deep enough to make sure the ball cannot get over their head.
This is how center fielder Josh Hamilton and left fielder David Murphy played the ninth inning. I saw Cruz early in the ninth inning playing too far in and said aloud, “He’s not back far enough. A ball can get over his head.”
There are so many things wrong with that segment, I don’t know where to begin. I won’t actually. Except to say that the article thoroughly evinces the “either/or”, “black/white,” digital rather than analog approach that managers and even journalists apply to baseball decision-making.
Oh, and the ridculous title of Verducci’s article is:
Cruz’s unforgiveable defensive gaffe proves costly to Rangers
In this case, according to Verducci, you simply play so deep that no ball can ever be over your head and stay in the park. As if a single in front of you is tantamount to an out. And as if by playing deep you are not forgoing some catches on short fly balls.
BTW, if you simply watch the replay of that non-catch, it is obvious that Cruz WAS playing rather deep, and of course it was an eminently catchable ball, not that is HAS to be catchable in order for his positioning to have been correct…