Anybody see the Cards vs. Rockies last night?

[BackInTex]

Box score play by play says Pujols scored from 2nd when Ankiel grounded out to second.

Is that right? If so, how did the Rockies let the go ahead (and eventual winning) run score in the 9th from second base on a ball hit to second?

Were they trying for the double play and getting the force out first?

[nitrah55]

Box score play by play says Pujols scored from 2nd when Ankiel grounded out to second.

Is that right? If so, how did the Rockies let the go ahead (and eventual winning) run score in the 9th from second base on a ball hit to second?

Were they trying for the double play and getting the force out first?

He did it by scoring from second.

Here's the story from the Rockies' web site:

DENVER -- You expect Albert Pujols to beat you with his bat. You also know he can beat you with his glove. But you don't expect him to do it with his daredevil baserunning.
The Colorado Rockies found out the hard way about that other dimension to Pujols' game in a 6-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday before 28,183 at Coors Field -- their third loss in four games in what is turning into another disappointing homestand.

Pujols, running on the pitch and never breaking stride, streaked home from second base on Rick Ankiel's slow tapper to second baseman Jonathan Herrera. He barely beat Todd Helton's relay throw and eluded catcher Yorvit Torrealba's tag to score the deciding run in the top of the ninth.

"You have to give him credit,'' Herrera said about Pujols. "He took the chance and made it. He surprised everybody. I was thinking he wasn't going to go. I didn't see him go, but I heard everybody yelling 'four' [home plate]. But I already was making my angle to throw to first base.''

Helton said his relay throw was a bit up the line, and that contributed to Pujols being able to beat the sweeping tag from Torrealba.

"I was screaming 'four' at Johnny, but it's tough for him to be thinking 'four' there,'' Helton said. "[Ankiel] hits it any other place, and [Pujols] is out. Or, if I had made a better throw. That's a tough way to get beat. That's pretty much the way it's going. It seems like one play is killing us. But you have to make plays to make the tide turn.''

[BackInTex]

Thanks nitrah.

It sure seemed improbable.


I'd score it E4, I know officially it is not.

[mrkelley23]

Thanks nitrah.

It sure seemed improbable.


I'd score it E4, I know officially it is not.

It definitely wasn't E4, although he did take his time getting the throw over. Helton's throw was late and off line, and the catcher didn't make a very good tag, either.

If there were such a thing as a team complacency error, that's how it would be scored. Sort of like the "fielder's indifference" crock that they use to not give a guy a stolen base in the late innings sometimes.

I watched it live, and at first I thought Davidson (the plate ump) gave St. Louis back the run he stole from them in the 8th, when Molina clearly slid around the catcher's tag at home, only to be called out. But the replay showed that Pujols made it safely.

It reminded me of the play where Enos Slaughter scored from first on a single, because Johnny Pesky was too stunned to throw the ball home in time.

[littlebeast13]

Here's the story from the Rockies' web site:

DENVER -- You expect Albert Pujols to beat you with his bat. You also know he can beat you with his glove. But you don't expect him to do it with his daredevil baserunning.

Whoever wrote this apparently doesn't get to watch Pujols very much. He takes a lot of chances on the basepaths like this, and has his entire career. Often, like last night, he is successful. Sometimes, like when he tried to advance from second to third on a wild pitch that only eluded the catcher by a few feet at a game I was at last month, it doesn't work.....

lb13

[tanstaafl2]

Doing something unexpected can often force a hurried throw or attempt to catch and tag too fast and miss the runner or drop the ball.

Had Herrera tried to change his throw to first at the last second there is a good chance he throws wildly. He should have been considering this possibility from the start but because so few players really hustle these days everyone gets complacent and assumes the runner is going to stop.

It is old school baseball and Pujols does it as well as anybody.