End of A- Rod?
Yankees announcement today
WHEN I nod my head, you hit it. Ready?
CC Sabathia, since becoming a Yankee eight seasons ago, consistently has proven to be a deficient player on the same, otherwise routine play. On grounders hit to the right side, he rarely has anticipated he might be needed to catch the ball from the first or second baseman to make the force out at first.
He could’ve overcome this — my sister-in-law could’ve overcome this — had he chosen to. Instead of hesitating on or near the mound to see if he would be needed, he could have anticipated that he
would be, thus run toward first the moment the ball was grounded in that direction. Years ago, he even might’ve been
coached to perform such a fundamental in service to playing winning baseball.
But he either doesn’t get it on his own, doesn’t get it despite coaching, or just doesn’t care.
So for eight years — and likely more with Cleveland and Milwaukee beforehand — he has hesitated on the mound to see what is going on down by first base before running in that direction, thus too late to take the throw for the out.
The batter then invariably is credited with a hit when “pitcher indifference” is more appropriate.
Monday at Citi Field, Wilmer Flores led off the sixth, Yanks up 3-2, with a check-swing grounder toward the right side. First baseman Mark Teixeira dived to slow it, then second baseman Starlin Castro grabbed it, ready to throw Flores out at first, but Sabathia hadn’t arrived.
YES and SNY replays showed Sabathia gradually, slowly and then, far too late, running toward first. Yet again.
And then, on YES and SNY, the don’t-believe-your-lying-eyes nonsense began.
SNY’s Keith Hernandez excused him on the grounds of “that bad knee.” Ron Darling added Sid Fernandez was similarly slow to cover first, but he, too, had bad knees.
On YES, Ken Singleton said, “He’s not going to beat anyone to first” — a specious argument given Sabathia could and should but rarely tries — then concluded the Yanks perhaps were playing Flores, a right-handed batter, too much to pull; had Teixeira played closer to first, Castro would’ve thrown Flores out.
“That’s a great point,” Michael Kay said.
David Cone added Sabathia has “a bad knee, as well.”
Wait a second! His knee wasn’t so bad that he didn’t run. He did
run, but far too late! No one said what many viewers already knew, and had long known, having seen it over and over: Sabathia rarely is given or driven to cover first!
Every play changes every game, and in this case, with Flores moved to second on Travis d’Arnaud’s single, Matt Reynolds hit a home run off Sabathia to give the Mets a 5-3 lead.
In this case, the game changed, and radically, because the game has changed.