2014 World Series thread

A dynasty in even-numbered years, perhaps.

 

They're averaging ~87 wins in the last five years.
Most impressive- not.

 

Agreed. In the Wild Card and the two WS games, it felt like a college football crowd. Everyone standing when KC was pitching and there were two strikes, like it's getting a stop on 3rd down.

I ran into a guy whose opinion I respect today. Been a head baseball coach (and third base coach) for 20 years, has won multiple state baseball titles, and I count him as a friend. He's coached my kid.

I asked if he sends Gordon.

"Once the outfielder bobbled the ball, absolutely, I send him. But I would have gone into Gordon's at-bat knowing Perez and Moustakas were behind him. That means you're not going to get an infield hit from either. Even if Perez somehow walks and Gordon stays at third, Moustakas will have the shift on."

Even if Gordon would have been toast at home by 40 feet?

"Even if a good throw and clean catch beats him by six steps. The Giants would have had to make three good plays in the span of two seconds. A throw, a catch at home and applying the tag in time. Under the pressure of the situation, that's a shortstop and a catcher involved in a highly-stressful moment."

He admitted that, going into Gordon's at-bat, the possibility of Gordon doing an error-aided inside the park home run is probably not something you think about in advance.

 

Your coach is applying high school probability and logic to major league defenders. A major leaguer doesn't biff that throw or catch. That goes for any major league SS, and Crawford is one of the best.

 

He would have been out by 60 feet.

You do not send the runner there.

Not in spring training.

Not in April.

Not in the dog days.

And not with two outs in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 of the fucking World Series.

 

The other thing no one is mentioning is, unless Crawford puts the throw in the first base dugout or sends it to the backstop, Posey probably has enough time to get the ball and get in position for a tag if the ball isn't too far up the line. So even a bad throw might not make Gordon safe.

 

Tell him if he ever wonders why he's coaching HS and not the pros, this is why.

 

He could have lobbed it home.

 

Honestly, if it was just a footrace to home plate, it might have been close.

Unrelated:

The phenomenon that explains pretty much all sports reporting: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/11/the-psychological-comforts-of-storytelling/381964/

 

He's coached two players who did make the MLB and a bunch that played Division I.

He acknowledged it wasn't a high percentage but make them make the play, given what was next.

As a Royals fanboi, I imagine I wasn't the only one saying, "crap, Salvi is up next."

My bigger issues were Hosmer sliding into first, hitting Aoki twice vs. Bumgarner and Moustakas with an inability to hit anything to the left side of the field. Still unbelievably proud.

For KC fans, not sending Gordon will become one of those flash points forever even if the odds weren't good.

 

He had about zero percent chance of being safe, give or take.

The Royals fans debating this, "forever," are dumb.

Your friend is dumb, too. I don't care if he coached Willie Mays, Lou Gehrig, and Steve Carlton.

 

Doesn't matter as long as they win the World Series.