It’s true: some nights on the baseball field you beat yourself, some nights the other team beats you, and some nights neither one really happens, but you lose anyways. This was certainly one of those nights that the Pirates beat themselves. The main focus will be on Andy LaRoche for not knowing that third base belonged to him as the lead runner and as a result turning what was shaping up to be a huge inning for the Pirates into a one-run fizzle. It’s true; LaRoche should know the rule, especially as a infielder. But the thing is, I’m positive LaRoche does know the rule. Sometimes, players get lost in the play and even though they “know” the base is theirs, they feel the catcher touch them, hear the umpire call a runner out, and don’t even process that there’s another runner there. I’m not apologizing for LaRoche because it was a terrible play, but it does happen a few times a year and most of the time it happens, it doesn’t happen to the Pirates. We just don’t notice those other times.
The problem tonight was that it wasn’t just LaRoche’s huge base running gaffe that cost the team. Ronny Cedeno’s first inning error cost Zach Duke two runs during an otherwise sparkling start. Evan Meek and Ryan Doumit executed a pitch-out to perfection, only to have Akinori Iwamura somehow miss the tag because the runner moved his hand. That cost the Pirates another run. Making one mistake, mental, physical, or otherwise, is something any team can do and still win. Making three of them? Not easy to overcome.
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