MLB 2022: The Long and Winding Thread

Epic ninth-inning meltdown by the Angels gives the Mariners four runs (and counting) with errors, bad throws and botched rundowns.

I guess it’s been that kind of year — for both clubs.

 

That was the worst inning of defense I have ever seen, made worse by the fact it was a well-played, 2-2 game going into the ninth.
Not going to recap, but it started with a walk, then catcher Max Stassi blocked a pitch that went 10 feet to his right. He scrambled to get to the ball and fired it to second without even looking. His throw was way too high probably 20 feet to the right of second and sailed into the outfield. Oh, the runner on first wasn't going.

Stassi made 3 errors that inning -- 2 physical, 1 mental -- including a botched rundown when he threw to third too early. The runner turned for home and nobody was covering. When I see pitchers botch a fielding play or see failure on a rundown, I always want to ask the manager when was the last time you practice that? Oh, spring training. That was 5 months ago, not since then? I bet the Angels haven't practiced rundowns since mid-March.

 

My buddy, right, was at the game and made it onto TV and then into a tweet.

 

And not only were the Angels committing errors, apparently the home plate umpire, Diaz, screwed up the count and allowed Carlos Santana to “walk” on three balls.

Watching it live, there was confusion after the aforementioned catcher’s throwing error and a steal of third by the M’s base runner, Sam Haggerty. The scoreboard and TV scorebug said (correctly) 2-2 for the count, but Santana and the third-base coach questioned it and Diaz changed the count to 3-1. Both dugouts were told, the next pitch was a ball and Santana trotted to first.

A weird inning all the way around.

 

An ump who loses the count should be suspended for at least a series.

 

Hell, if batters walked on three balls, Carlos Santana would walk 400 times a year.

 

From OCR:
(After Stassi's hilarious throw) .... Haggerty then stole third on the very next pitch.

Amid all of that chaos, umpire Laz Diaz lost track of the count, which he admitted after the game. Diaz called a strike and then a ball on the first two pitches after the stolen base, so the count should have been 2-and-2. Santana asked Diaz if it was 3-and-1.

“I said, ‘No it’s 2-2,’” Diaz said. “Then I started thinking, maybe it is 3-1, because I forgot I called that first pitch a strike. There were so many pitches going on, I lost the count on that first pitch. I knew I called a strike on the steal, and that’s the only one I remembered. I couldn’t remember the one before that. … I messed that one up.”

Diaz’s recollection even after the game was faulty, because the steal was on the first strike to Santana.

Nevin said the Angels asked Diaz what the count was, and Diaz had insisted it was 3-and-1. The scoreboard showed 2-and-2. Diaz said later that had the Angels pushed for a challenge, the umpire crew would have corrected the count, either through a meeting with the other umps or a check of the video.

The next pitch was a ball and Santana jogged to first.

 

If the count isn't reviewable ...

 

No wonder we haven't seen Moddy in a while. Oh ...

 

Eckersly telling it like it is.