Game 72: Phillies 5 Pirates 4
I didn't see most of this one when it happened, but I knew that the Pirates lost a close game and when I came home, literally the first thing I saw on my TV was a highlight of Mike McKenry getting thrown out at home plate by a mile and a half on a sac fly in the seventh inning.
Of course, the first thing I did after that was bring the box score up to try and get some context. Neil Walker was up, which meant Andrew McCutchen was on base. Which meant that McKenry was sent from third base with two outs on a very shallow flyball to left field with one of the best hitters in the National League on deck. I know that the justification for sending McKenry there is that with two outs and runners on second and third, that Charlie Manuel will walk McCutchen to bring Garrett Jones up, then bring in a lefty to pitch to Jones. I know that Mayberry isn't the greatest defensive left fielder anywhere, really. But watching the play over and over again and turning the situation over in my head ... with McKenry on third, don't you make Manuel walk McCutchen? Don't you bring your best hitter up with two guys on force his hand? In the seventh inning, maybe he tries an unintentional/intentional walk and 'Cutch gets something to hit. Are you sure Josh Harrison (who we'll assume would've pinch hit for Jones in the seventh) won't get a hit off of Antonio Bastardo? Bastardo's good, but is Harrison less likely to get a hit than the plodding McKenry was to score from third on an extremely shallow flyball?
These are questions that are all easy to ask in hindsight, of course, but the fact remains that betting on McKenry to score on that play was an extremely low-probability bet. It's one that the Pirates' lost, and so they lost another game.
Just throwing it out there, it might have been low-probability for McKenry to score, but he did score. The throw beat him by a mile but Ruiz made no attempt to get the tag down and got him on the shoulder. If you want to see it, mlb.com has a couple of really good angles that show it pretty well. Fort was pretty clearly safe.
It's a good thing you didn't see it as i can only imagine how Harrison's pop up of a bunt after McCutchen led off the 8th with a double would have infuriated you.
