Quote:
Originally Posted by texasdave
Bats go down in order. Lose 8-5.
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Weird night at the ballpark in Louisville. Neither team hit the ball all that hard in the first few innings, yet both had 9 hits and 5 runs by the fourth inning. Gregorius had two plays that were Little League, but blew them both.
In the first, Gustafson caught the Brave runner off first, threw it to second, but Gregorius, not in position, dropped the ball while "sprinting" to the bag. Then, in the third, with a Brave runner attempting to steal and Gregorius covering the bag, the ball was hit slightly to his right. He stopped, turned, tried to backhand the ball, and had it squirt out of his hand.
Neither play was considered an error.
(He apparently made a good play later in the game, but I was in the can and didn't see it.)
The left side ump blew two
really easy calls as well.
One at 2B when he called the Bravo out on the way to a double play. (Nice play by Janish to get the ball and toss it to Gregorius.) The kid sticks on second as the Bats are leaving the field. Bell comes out to ask why his players are called back. The ump (and Bell) have a heart to heart. The Brave player stays and they run it back again with two outs. (The only thing I can figure is perhaps Gregorius didn't get near the bag, though he looked like he was there.)
The second blown call was worse. Bravo attempted steal. Navarro throws a seed to Rodriguez. He's out by three feet. Bats players are jogging off the field and the runner took off his helmet to give to the third base coach before the ump called him safe. Bell came out again to have a heart to heart. Ump was behind the runner in the baseline-- no way he saw that play.
Too, Smith got absolutely rocked. His were the only balls hit all that hard all night.
I've been to Louisville about 100 times over the past few years. This was the smallest crowd I've ever seen. Totally disinterested, too. Being bad really sucks the life out of a team, I'd imagine.