Sox aided by pitch clock
Cal Conley of the Atlanta Braves thought he had just won the game with a two-out, bases-loaded walk-off walk on Saturday. He took a few steps toward first base, bat still in hand, when umpire John Libka jumped out from behind the plate and indicated strike three.
Game over. Conley couldn’t believe it. Neither could his teammates. Fans booed.
The most dramatic moment of the new pitch clock era arrived on the first full day of spring games, and in the most dramatic scenario possible. Conley, facing reliever Robert Kwiatkowski of the Boston Red Sox, wasn’t set in the box and alert to the pitcher as the clock wound under eight seconds.
The penalty is an automatic strike, which led to the game at North Port, Fla., finishing in a 6-6 tie. Kwiatkowski got the strikeout after throwing only two real strikes.
More sign stealing?
Could the pitch clock lead to more on-field sign stealing, in turn forcing managers to cut out the third base coach as the middleman for relaying signs?
Veteran managers Dusty Baker of the Astros and Buck Showalter of the Mets think so.
Baker said there’s less time for the dugout to signal the third base coach, who in turn must relay signs to batters and runners, and therefore less time to use decoys, making the signs easier to decipher.
Baker believes the pitch clock puts even more pressure on the third base coach to be quick — and somewhat deceptive.
Baker said the toughest job on the field is being a third base coach. “Everybody in the ballpark has eyes on him. Everybody’s trying to decipher his sequence of signs. There are guys in the stands, are guys now on videos.”
Showalter shares Baker’s concern to the point that he’s considering eliminating the middleman and having all signs come directly from the dugout, a practice common in the amateur ranks.
“There are so many things that, because we’re afraid to copy colleges or high schools because, ‘Oh, they’re amateurs and we’re pros,’ ” Showalter said. “There are things they did better. They don’t go through the third base coach. Why do we transfer stuff to a third base coach to then transfer to the player? It’s just another relay.”
Home plate tension
St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said umpire C.B. Bucknor “has zero class” for refusing to shake his hand during the lineup card exchange at home plate before a game against the Washington Nationals. Marmol, who did shake hands with the other three umps, was seeing Bucknor for the first time since being ejected in a contentious dispute Aug. 21 in Arizona.
“I went into that game pretty certain of my thoughts on him as an umpire,” Marmol said. “They weren’t very good and it shows his lack of class as a man. I chose my words wisely. I just don’t think he’s good at his job and it just showed his lack of class as a man.”