How is that not an error?
-
-
- September
- 14
-
The Yankees won 13-3 yesterday. So Johnny Damon’s bonehead play in the fourth inning that allowed the Orioles to score a run didn’t really matter.
Only it sort of did. Instead of CC Sabathia having a 3.38 ERA it’s 3.42. I don’t think the big man is getting the Cy Young Award this season. But what if that play caused him to go from 2.98 to 3.02? In the eyes of some voters, that could be a difference maker.
Let’s review: With Justin Turner on second and one out, Jeff Fiorentino hit a flay ball to left. Damon had trouble finding the ball in the sun and staggered around a bit before catching it. Turner tagged up and went to third.
Damon gave an exaggerated sigh of relief then turned to throw the ball in the stands, thinking there were three outs. As Spicoli did his thing, Turner kept running and scored. By the time Damon realized what he had done, it was too late.
The official scorer, Jordan Sprechman, correctly ruled the play a sacrifice fly. Fiorentino got an RBI.
Scorers are bound by certain policies, official and unofficial. Unless an outfield gets a glove on the ball, there is rarely an error charged. There are also no such things as mental errors.
But in a case like this, Damon’s blunder is clearly an error as it allowed a runner to take an extra base he otherwise would not have. There should be a provision where Damon could be charged with an error on that play and the run be unearned on Sabathia’s ledger.
The problem is that the quality and common-sense of official scorers varies widely. The guys in New York are top notch. But in other places — Florida, ahem! — it’s brutal. But MLB should be able to come up with some sort of way to handle these matters in a fair way.
This entry was posted
on Monday, September 14th, 2009 at 1:26 pm by Peter Abraham.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
If you looked inside of Damon’s head I’m sure there would be a solitary tumbleweed, blowing across a barren plain.
Thank god he can hit
Without a doubt it was an error.
On another note…was there any post game comments from Marty Foster on his 3rd missed call on the Yanks this year? Or did he have someone give an excuse for him?
For the record-
I still have not seen this play. I will forever remain in denial that MPB Johnny Damon is anything less than perfect
I think Damon needs to start wearing one of those David Wright helmets. He can’t afford any more brain damage.
It’s strange how subjective some stuff in baseball can be compared to other sports.
it’s plays like this that will cause Damon to receive less money in his next contract….
Johnny being Johnny?
Damon is strategically lowering his value on the open market so he can remain a yankee
I agree, but I expand:
- Damon deserves an error
- Sabathia’s ERA should be corrected
- Runner should get home base on “Fielder’s Indifference”
- Batter should not get an SF (or RBI)
Glad it happened now as I’m sure he was embarrassed and pretty certain he won’t put himself in that situation during the more meaningful games in a few weeks. Mistakes happen … and better they happen vs the O’s then against the Tigers in Round 1 of the playoffs.
No reason MLB and scorekeepers should be logical or practical, eh?
Cool it, folks. Everyone is entitled to muff up once in a while. I know Damon isn’t a great outfielder, but he doesn’t make stupid plays like that. It’s one of those things. We all make dumb mistakes from time to time.
I think this mental error will be forgotten about in no time at all. Damon has had a terrific year. It will earn him another year in pinstripes, i think, if he’s willing to sign a one year deal.
I say yes to Damon and no to Matsui. I love the guy but he may need a wheel chair to round the bases by next year.
Lets go, tonight is a big game Mentally.
def an error…if an infielder double clutches and it allows the runner to beat the throw, they give him an error…this should fall under that as well
Is Johnny as sincere a nice guy as he appears to be? He is always thinking of the other guy be it the crowd, other players etc… Ive seen him pick up the catchers mask, foul balls and hand them to the ballboy. He was thinking of the crowd yesterday , he couldnt wait to flip that ball away.
Funny though, it seemed to wake up the team as they came back to tie the game that 1/2 inning.
What’s the big deal?
Matsui is on the next bus to Seattle. Good bye and thanks for the memories.
Can you imagine if we lost the game by 1? Perhaps some tough love from the young pitchers?
CC or myself will win Cy Young
wow – totally slow posting this morning (nothing from like 2:30 am until 8:30) — now that there are prizes involved the threads are running!
i say no to both…too many teams get fooled by aging players who have these “contract year of success” and the player fails after resigning…time to move on
I like Michael Kay’s idea: make umpiring crews 5 members instead of 4, and rotate one of them into the press box to officially score each game.
Wake me up when the playoffs start…
Does Jeter get in Joba’s face during warm ups so we can see a good game?
mick-
I have never heard anything negative ever said about Johnny Damon. (Not including his ex wife and Joe Torre as sources of information)
cracking up here thinking about the Tampa Bay official scoring sham calls.
it’s like a classic inside job: obvious and right in your face but what the hell can you do about it?
jeez already another thread up:
“arrow”
Time to give up the “idiot” act, Johnny. You are not in BOS anymore!
that should be:
hey Pete a few questions.
any idea when Robertson will be back?
and does Damaso Marte recent struggles effect his spot on the post season roster? did Dirardi see enough?
Bitterness is unbecoming, m.
Damon seems like a classclown type, and those are always more interested in what other people are thinking than what they are thinking at the time.
Johnny is other-worldly.
I agree. That is ridiculous. That should be an error and baseball should have no problem changing that rule.
I have been heading the “Bring Back Johnny For At Least One More Year” campaign since the All Star break.
You can go back and look. I also have the exact date and time in July when I predicted a monster second half for Johnny somewhere.
I forget what date it was (its written somewhere too), but I also went on record and predicted a monster postseason for Johnny
good point. i agree totally
the fact that an unearned run could potentially raise his ERA from 2.98 to 3.02 in your example and that would impact this Cy Young chances seems as much of a problem as whether or not this is deemed an error
The only obstacle would be Boras. But JD should speak up and insist on staying here.
Johnny Damon is not Trot Nixon…and for that, I remain grateful.
scored as fielder’s indifference… kind of like a late inning advance of the baserunner isn’t a stolen base johnny just didn’t feel it necessary lol
Love the “Spicoli” reference and I’m a young guy i shouldn’t even know that movie.
’spicoli” – good one
Johnny and Manny went to the same school.
CC Sabathia is probably a lot more concerned with the team’s success than he is with personal accolades.
Get over it.
It was a bonehead move by Johnny, sure, but the Yankees won and I am sure Girardi talked to him about it.
what will be the approximate time of comment 1 million?
There should definitely be standards of some kind enforced. I’m surprised there aren’t.
I’m sure CC won’t care about his ERA when the 2009 Yankees win a world series this season. Lets go Yankees
I”m sure Johnny would be the first one to say he should have been charged an error. I agree that there needs to be some prevision. What happens if there were two men on and Johnny threw the ball into the stands? CC would have been charged with two runs? that is bogus.
new thread
The outfielders in the MLB need to stop tossing balls into the stands at the end of every inning. Last out, sure why not, but they get into the habit and then stuff like this happens. I’m sure it’s nice to get a little love from the fans, but they paid to see you get outs!
I don’t like worrying over what the official scorer rules a play because it doesn’t matter at all in the game.
It does effect the awards though which is sad because those awards should be based off what the players do on the field, not what is reported in the box score the next day.
An umpire botching a call is a much bigger deal.
And, should Damon have been ruled with a throwing error for tossing the ball into the stands? I think so.
The players should throw more things into the stands!! It’s no longer an affordable thing to be able to go to a ball game. Families have to make a decision to pay bills or take the kids to a game. If they do decide to go, the very least a player can do is toss a souvenier into the stands.
You can knock the scorer in Miami but even HE corrected the original call on Damon earlier this summer when Johnny missed a fairly easy catch. Initially it was ruled a hit but then Johnny was given the E later in the game when the scorer revisited the play.
Can you blame this on Damon wanting to be a crowd pleaser all the time and getting caught up in the moment of stupidity?
If he weren’t being paid millions of dollars to play the game than I wouldn’t blame him – but he is, so its an error.
I have said for years MLB should employ professional official scorers who study the rule book, take tests and go through training as far as their judgment is concerned.
It should never have been a member of the media who might have an interest in giving a good guy a break or sticking to a jerk. The scorer also shouldn’t be someone the home team has the power to replace.
Isn’t the sac fly for the runner to move to 3rd base, then he advanced home on the error? It was not your usually falling down or dropping the ball error, but an error in judgment is still an error.
I would really like to see the rules changed or at least enforced differently as far as errors go. My biggest issue with people going by stats and stats only in baseball is that almost all if not all stats are at least partially flawed.
Under the rules it would have been a throwing error if he had tossed the ball into the stands but because he didn’t there was no “error”. All the more reason for increasing the professionalism of official scorers and, once you do that increasing the amount of flexibility they have to award an error where deserved or deny a “win” to a reliever who doesn’t deserve it.
Is it possible for the officials to go back and review the play? Could CC (or Girardi) plead with MLB and ask for the play to be looked at, and possibly change the scoring?
Or isn’t that really possible?
Damon will redeem himself for both CC and the Yankees. Ballplayers play better when they dont think too much. But Damon defintely had a brain cramp..has to be an unearned run though. MLB will have to adjust this, has to.
he is such a likable sort, and we r doing so well, that it is difficult to be mad at the guy. if it happened in a pennant race, this would be ‘a horse of a different color’.
Jordan Sprechman is top-notch – he and the others who rotate the job at the Stadium are excellent. As Pete notes, the others aren’t so consistent. My favorite scoring story was from a few years ago when Juan Gonzalez hit a grounder to second which was booted to allow 2 runs to score in a game in Texas. It was scored an error until he waved a towel and gesticulated up to the press box, after which it was magically changed to a hit.
//Johnny and Manny went to the same school//
I know that school. It was called the school for winning World Series’ in Boston. Too bad neither will ever see another one in their remaining careers
The problem is that mental mistakes are NEVER counted as errors. If a fielder doesn’t touch the ball, for example, it isn’t an error. This is dumb and should be corrected. Mental mistakes are not often the difference between a “W” and an “L” or between an ERA of 2.98 and 3.01. But they COULD make that kind of difference.
Of course, allowing official scorers to assess a “mental error” would open the door to all kinds of controversy. But it’s a door that should be opened.
EVERYONE makes errors, both physical and mental. We’re all human.
Shades of Bernie Williams.
Error should be charged.
At least he didn’t throw it into the stands before realizing goof.
How did he finally realize there weren’t 3 outs? The crowd? other players?