May 27, 2005
Too Aggressive
In general, aggressive baserunning is a good thing. It generates excitement and puts pressure on a defense. But the Red Sox were just too aggressive in the top of the 6th tonight. The Sox had Randy Johnson on the ropes, getting five straight hits off the lefty but only 1 run. On the fourth hit, Bellhorn tried to score even though Womack had the ball in left before Mark reached third. The play wasn't close. Then Ortiz hit one up the middle that Cano bobbled. It went as a hit, but Damon tried to take an extra base and score on the bobble. Cano fired a strike to the plate and got Damon easily.
Instead of having a big inning, they score just one, and the Yankees hit two homers in the bottom of the inning to score five. Randy Johnson, despite a very poor outing, is in line for the win.
Many Soxfans subscribe to the notion that third-base coach Dale Sveum is at fault here. I have not seen the video, but I strongly doubt that Bellhorn decided on his own to try to score. Damon might be a more agressive runner, but he doesn't have eyes in back of his head. This is 3b coach responsibility all the way. Its not the first time this season, or in his tenure as a coach for the Sox that Szeum's judgement has been called into question. The word 'moron' comes to mind.
Womack only had 2 assists in over 1000 outfield innings going into this season. I bet every 3rd base coach in baseball will test Womack's pathetic arm on every opportunity. I haven't seen enough Red Sox games to evaluate Sveum, but he wasn't a paricularly good base runner as a player, so I can believe that he's made mistakes as a 3rd base coach. This probably wasn't one of them, however.