Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Coach- "you're run doesn't matter!" Huh?

I went to an American Legion game the other night and witnessed something that I'm sure only bothered me. It wasn't sound baseball but I'm sure no one else batted an eye. Here's what happened.

Leadoff batter singles in a 4-2 deficit in the top of the seventh. The third base coach yells across the field "You're run doesn't matter." Good. Nothing wrong here.

Next batter singles and the runner advances to 3rd. 1st and 3rd. 0 outs. The runner on 3rd still doesn't matter. Tying run is on 1st base.

The offense could sacrifice bunt the runner to 2nd since that is the important run. Yet, they do not. They ask the hitter (5 hole?) to swing away. He hits the ball hard but right at the 3B. The 3B glances at the runner at 3B. The runner at 3B holds and the defense turns a double play.

The coach yelled to the runner "you're run doesn't matter" so nothing egregious right? Wrong.

That runner should have taken off to score if nothing else to allow the tying run to remain on base. He should have given himself up immediately by going on contact. The 3B glanced at him, why? He should care less about the 3rd run. The 3B could have easily fallen prey to the good base running that never occurred. Instead, the runner at 3B believing he was unimportant did nothing and in turn his team lost the tying run.

The coach shrugged his shoulders and made a "what are you going to do?" gesture. How about tell your runner on third base to go on contact and stay in a run down as long as possible. How about that?

It certainly is an esoteric circumstance but anytime a coach is going to yell, I put him under the microscope.

What's the saying "It's better to stay quiet and let 'em think you're a fool, then open your mouth and remove all doubt."

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