The one he didn't catch

[pravata]

Garner, talking about Taveras' defense,

"Pujols hit a sinking line drove to Willy's left," he said. "No outs, or one out. He started to dive, [but] he stopped at the last second. He kept Pujols at first base. A lot of young outfielders in today's game and some not-so-young outfielders dive for that ball, and the runner ends up on third."

 "People say, 'Oh, what a great effort' when they dive. It's not a great effort, it's a foolish effort. It's not a smart play unless you've got the game-winning run at third base and you've got to make the play. Willy doing that tells me he can think in crucial situations, and he's a young kid. So he'll be better. Willy will be better defensively."
The Link

[Taras Bulba]

Garner's comment reflects how baseball professionals think as opposed to most baseball fans.

[HurricaneDavid]

Quote:
Willy doing that tells me he can think in crucial situations,

I understand what Garner's getting at, but is a ST game really a crucial situation???

[pravata]

Quote:
Garner's comment reflects how baseball professionals think as opposed to most baseball fans.

Is it even necessary to consider how this play affected Taveras' zone rating?

[pravata]

Quote:

Quote:
Willy doing that tells me he can think in crucial situations,

I understand what Garner's getting at, but is a ST game really a crucial situation???

He was refering to an incident last season.  Astros havent played the Cards this ST.  And if they had, Willy has been in the WBC.

[Fredia]

wow the wbc thanks for bringing that up so i can relieve the memories

[HurricaneDavid]

Quote:
He was refering to an incident last season.  Astros havent played the Cards this ST.  And if they had, Willy has been in the WBC.

Ahhh.  I just read your quote.  My bad, eject.

[Ty in Tampa]

If it were ST though, I would think it would be more important to practice common sense than the diving catch.

[strosrays]

Quote:
A lot of young outfielders in today's game and some not-so-young outfielders dive for that ball, and the runner ends up on third."

i.e., Jim Edmonds.

[WulawHorn]

I thought's Beltran's spectacular catch in game 5 against STL (sanders perhaps?) during Backe's gem was stupid for this reason.  If he doesn't make the catch it's a triple or homerun (in the park) and there were two outs and nobody on.  He made it so all was well, but it had the crap scared out of me.

[No? in Austin]

Quote:
I thought's Beltran's spectacular catch in game 5 against STL (sanders perhaps?) during Backe's gem was stupid for this reason.  If he doesn't make the catch it's a triple or homerun (in the park) and there were two outs and nobody on.  He made it so all was well, but it had the crap scared out of me.

Edgar Renteria

[Curly]

"Willy doing that tells me he can think in crucial situations"


Guess he scored high on his Wonderlic Test

[WulawHorn]

Thanks for the catch Noe- I had Sanders in my mind- perhaps he was up next?  He had a brutal series against the Mud-n-Blood in 04, I kept waiting for him to break out and he did nothing through game 5 I think he was like 2-23 or somesuch, which was odd b/c it was such an offensive series heading into game 5.