I imagine that many of you, like me, grew up swinging baseball bats in your back yard, bashing tennis balls and imagining each swing was a game-winning home run at Forbes Field or Three Rivers Stadium or PNC Park. Neil Walker probably did the same thing, but tonight he did it for real with his two-run homer, the first of his big league career, off of Ted Lilly in the eighth inning that gave the Pirates what they needed to eek out another win against the Cubs. I got a rush just watch him do it. I imagine a lot of other people felt the same way.
Walker’s homer also washed out the weird double-base running error by Jeff Karstens and Lastings Milledge in the third inning that should have had the score tied when Walker came up in the eighth and would’ve cost them the game without Walker’s blast. If you somehow missed the play and all subsequent recaps of it, Karstens was on first with two outs when Milledge ripped the ball into left center. It went under Tyler Colvin’s glove and rolled to the fence. Milledge tried to stretch it into a triple but was thrown out at third, and Karstens had pulled up and jogged into the plate and didn’t cross before Milledge was tagged, so the run didn’t count.
Milledge was blamed for the play by John Russell in the dugout during his interview with the booth that followed the play as the next inning began, and he’s also taken his lumps in subsequent press coverage of the game. It’s true that Milledge deserves his share of blame (never make the first or third out at third), but doesn’t botching that play up take more than one failure? First off, did Milledge run through a stop sign? I didn’t see any indication on the broadcast that he did. The play at third was not close, so shouldn’t the third base coach have been holding him up, especially with the pitcher running? And I know Karstens is a pitcher and it’s a long way from third to first and he has no idea of what Milledge is doing, but hey, he was the one that didn’t score from first on a play that Milledge nearly stretched into a triple. And finally, Garrett Jones, the on deck hitter, was the only guy on the field that could see the ball, Milledge, and Karstens. Shouldn’t he be screaming for Karstens to bust his balls to the plate once he sees Lastings make an ill-advised dash for third? I’m not absolving Milledge of blame or questioning those who point the finger at him, but I think there’s plenty more blame to go around here.
Finally, Octavio Dotel has been electric of late. He picked up a quick 1-2-3 save tonight with two more strikeouts. Since May 1st, he’s allowed four hits and one run with 18 strikeouts in 12 innings of work. He got off to a rough start, but he’s been just incredible of late.
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