Topic: He Says Something Dumb
Great win for the Mets last night, riding eight shutout innings from Jae Seo to a 1-0 win over the Nationals. Victor Diaz singled home Ramon Castro for the game's only run and the Mets held on even though Willie tried to blow it by removing Seo in the ninth for the soon-to-be ex-Met Braden Looper. One can almost hear Willie thinking, "OK, we have a lead of three runs or less in the ninth and Joe always told me that you bring in your closer when that happens. Braden Looper is our closer. I should bring him in." Yes, he is that creative.
The Diaz RBI was particularly interesting; here's how the Daily News recapped the play.
"Castro was chugging for home the whole way on Diaz's hit. Jose Guillen threw the ball in from right field to cutoff man Nick Johnson, who was able to find Jamey Carroll to tag Diaz between first and second for the second out of the inning. Diaz said, 'I thought he would score, but I figured I'd be sure of it if I got caught in a rundown.' However, Willie Randolph saw it differently: 'That was not a good play.' "
Oh Willie. Ramon Castro runs only slightly faster than me, and I run slower than Jessica Simpson trying to add numbers without using her fingers. Jose Guillen has one of the best and most accurate arms in baseball. That's a pretty good recipe for a 9-2 punchout at home plate. If Castro is going to try to score, Diaz ABSOLUTELY MUST break for second and try to draw a throw. I just watched the replay courtesy of MLB.com and it appears Castro would've scored on a reasonably close play at the plate. But Victor Diaz, rounding first after a single, CAN'T POSSIBLY KNOW THAT. What he does know is that if he breaks for second and the cut-off man goes after him instead, Castro will CERTAINLY score. So Victor does the smart and selfless thing, which is to give himself up to allow the go-ahead run to score, and his own manager tells the press it wasn't a good play. Unbelievable.
Posted by Jack
at 12:59 PM EDT