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I’m brand-new to this forum, first post, and I didn’t want it to be starting a new thread. But I wanted to talk about a WS blunder that as far as I can tell, no fan or journalist ever noticed or commented on, and doing a search I couldn’t find an appropriate thread for it.
OK, here’s the situation. 2005 WS, White Sox vs. Astros, Game 4. Ninth inning, White Sox are leading 1-0, and only three outs from a sweep. Astros get a man on second, Jason Lane, with one out. Chris Burke hits a pop foul that Juan Uribe makes an amazing catch of by diving into the stands.
Here’s what I’ve never understood: why didn’t Lane tag up? Since it was a foul ball, there was no question of leading off second in case the ball dropped for a hit. He should have remained standing on the bag. As soon as Uribe disappeared over the railing, it was obvious that if he caught the ball there was no way he would be able to get up and throw it to third in time. So Lane could easily have gotten to third.
But that’s not all. Uribe, as it turned out, had quite a bit of trouble extricating himself from the people in the stands. I’m quite sure Lane could have continued around third to score and tie the game. If the Astros third base coach had been on the ball, he would have been over at the stands checking on Uribe, and signaling to Lane whether to keep running.
If Lane had scored, would it have changed the outcome of the WS? Almost certainly not. The game would have been tied, the Astros might still have lost the game, and even if they had won, no team has ever come back from 3-0 in a WS. For this reason, I don’t regard it as the worst WS blunder of all time. But it would have at least given the Astros a shot at winning one game, and extending the series. The only argument against this I can think of is that if Lane had scored, someone would have informed Uribe, and he would have conveniently "dropped" the ball before coming out of the stands. Maybe. But since the possibility of tagging up apparently occurred to no one on either one of these supposedly professional baseball teams, I suspect no one would have noticed that Lane had scored.
My pick for worst WS blunder of all time—because it did affect the outcome of the series—was committed not by Johnny Pesky, but Lonnie Smith. 1991, Braves vs. Twins, game 7. Neither team scored during the nine innings, with the Twins winning the game and the Series in the 10th inning.
But the Braves had a golden opportunity in the 8th. Smith was on 1st, and the hit and run was on when Terry Pendleton hit one into the gap in left center. Running with the pitch, Smith should have easily been able to score what would have been the winning run. But SS Greg Gagne and 2B Chuck Knoblauch pretended that they were fielding and starting a double play on a ground ball, taking advantage of the fact that Smith, running on the pitch, couldn’t see where the ball was. Smith hesitated, and when he resumed running, could only get to third. Though they got the bases loaded with I believe no outs, the Braves never scored in that inning, or in the game.
Whether Smith did or did not know where the ball was is unclear. He claimed he knew it was hit to the outfield, but held up because he thought it might be caught. But if he had been looking over at the third base coach, he would have seen the signal to keep running. Seems pretty clear that this play blew the WS for the Braves.
OK, here’s the situation. 2005 WS, White Sox vs. Astros, Game 4. Ninth inning, White Sox are leading 1-0, and only three outs from a sweep. Astros get a man on second, Jason Lane, with one out. Chris Burke hits a pop foul that Juan Uribe makes an amazing catch of by diving into the stands.
Here’s what I’ve never understood: why didn’t Lane tag up? Since it was a foul ball, there was no question of leading off second in case the ball dropped for a hit. He should have remained standing on the bag. As soon as Uribe disappeared over the railing, it was obvious that if he caught the ball there was no way he would be able to get up and throw it to third in time. So Lane could easily have gotten to third.
But that’s not all. Uribe, as it turned out, had quite a bit of trouble extricating himself from the people in the stands. I’m quite sure Lane could have continued around third to score and tie the game. If the Astros third base coach had been on the ball, he would have been over at the stands checking on Uribe, and signaling to Lane whether to keep running.
If Lane had scored, would it have changed the outcome of the WS? Almost certainly not. The game would have been tied, the Astros might still have lost the game, and even if they had won, no team has ever come back from 3-0 in a WS. For this reason, I don’t regard it as the worst WS blunder of all time. But it would have at least given the Astros a shot at winning one game, and extending the series. The only argument against this I can think of is that if Lane had scored, someone would have informed Uribe, and he would have conveniently "dropped" the ball before coming out of the stands. Maybe. But since the possibility of tagging up apparently occurred to no one on either one of these supposedly professional baseball teams, I suspect no one would have noticed that Lane had scored.
My pick for worst WS blunder of all time—because it did affect the outcome of the series—was committed not by Johnny Pesky, but Lonnie Smith. 1991, Braves vs. Twins, game 7. Neither team scored during the nine innings, with the Twins winning the game and the Series in the 10th inning.
But the Braves had a golden opportunity in the 8th. Smith was on 1st, and the hit and run was on when Terry Pendleton hit one into the gap in left center. Running with the pitch, Smith should have easily been able to score what would have been the winning run. But SS Greg Gagne and 2B Chuck Knoblauch pretended that they were fielding and starting a double play on a ground ball, taking advantage of the fact that Smith, running on the pitch, couldn’t see where the ball was. Smith hesitated, and when he resumed running, could only get to third. Though they got the bases loaded with I believe no outs, the Braves never scored in that inning, or in the game.
Whether Smith did or did not know where the ball was is unclear. He claimed he knew it was hit to the outfield, but held up because he thought it might be caught. But if he had been looking over at the third base coach, he would have seen the signal to keep running. Seems pretty clear that this play blew the WS for the Braves.
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