Why on earth did Rollins throw to first?

[jhiller21]

For those that didn't see it in today's 9th inning win, Freel was on third, Phillips on 2nd. One out, Bako hits a slow roller to SS, and Rollins picks it up.

Now Freel's about halfway home and racing... Rollins has about a 1% chance of throwing Freel out at home.

Why did he throw the ball to first only to bounce off 1b Ryan Howard? Even if he makes the out at first the Reds win with 2 outs.

[keeganbrick]

Yea, i was LOLing at that. Maybe he is a friend of Bako, since he received another hit because of that?

[Degenerate39]

My guess is that he thought there was two outs or something. But I'm not complaining at all though because I'll take that kind of win 162 days of the year.

[nineworldseries]

I was at the game and initially thought the same thing. However, watching the constant replays on Baseball Tonight last night, it made more sense. On the slow-mo replay you can clearly see Rollins trying to throw home at first, but the ball got snagged in his glove. He is turned towards home plate before Freel arrives and is trying to throw. I think he just gave up at that point (when the ball got snagged and Freel get there) and instinct made him throw to first anyway, even though it was meaningless at that point.

[big boy]

Originally Posted by nineworldseries

I think he just gave up at that point (when the ball got snagged and Freel get there) and instinct made him throw to first anyway, even though it was meaningless at that point.

I agree with this but any kind of weak throw home would have been better than a wasted throw to first. I expect more from the MVP.

[redsfanmia]

He would not have thrown Freel out at home anyway and the play had all of his momentum going toward the foul line. He should have just eaten the ball and not thrown it at all but it really doesnt matter.

[reds2221]

I really did not understand his thought process on that play but oh well, its the little things that win ball games (literally)

[Coopdaddy67]

yeah, it seemed to me that it was simply instincts. He knew the game was over, but just continued with the play.

[AdamDunn]

Maybe he knew that he couldn't get Freel and just tried to help Durbin lower his ERA by getting the out at first.

[kaldaniels]

Above posts are exactly right. He was looking home but after the bobble he knew he had zero chance at the plate. So his ballplayer's instinct had him fling it over to first. It was not a mental error at all.

[mole44]

Did anyone else notice tho, if he had fielded that ball cleanly, Freel was DEAD at home.

[GoReds33]

Originally Posted by mole44

Did anyone else notice tho, if he had fielded that ball cleanly, Freel was DEAD at home.

I don't think he was dead. Freel had a good chance of being safe. I think Freel would have gone Pete Rose on the catcher though.

[redlegsmustache]

Originally Posted by mole44

Did anyone else notice tho, if he had fielded that ball cleanly, Freel was DEAD at home.

No, Rollins got the ball Freel was halfway home. Freel is proly the fastest guy on the Reds, why he isn't in CF I'll never know.