9/8 Game Thread - Reds game one

[Bobster21]

6C5B4D6F404A6B4B5C2E0 wrote: Should be 4-0, but Harrison was on the bases. I don't get how bad he is on the bases.
I'll quibble a little bit with this in that it ultimately didn't cost the Pirates any runs. If the SS doesn't make the play on Harrison, he probably gets Cutch at first, so instead of having Cutch on first, you'd have JHay at third. And since Cutch came around to score later that inning anyway, it was zero-sum.


A bad play is a bad play. It doesn't depend on the outcome. And in this case the outcome was what it should have been. No reasonable SS is going to throw to 1B to retire the batter when the runner at 2B is giving himself up right in front of him. If Mercer let a runner take 3B in front of him while he threw the batter out at 1B, we would all be talking about what a stupid play Mercer made. There was no chance whatsoever that Harrison would make it to 3B while the SS threw to 1B because no MLB SS is going to let him go and throw to 1B on that play. The fact that Cutch later scored doesn't make Harrison's bad play ok. Harrison had no way of knowing subsequent hits would occur to score Cutch. What he DID know was that he needed to remain in scoring position and not give himself up needlessly. Had it been an inning in which a single was the only subsequent hit, Harrison could have scored from 2B but Cutch would not have from 1B. Harrison needs to learn the strategies of base ruining so he doesn't make key mistakes that can't be overcome. But since his play consistently demonstrates he has no idea what to do or not do on the bases, it's doubtful he's ever going to understand it. It's fun to watch a fast guy take an extra base. But it has to be attempted intelligently or else there will be too many instances of needlessly hurting the team.