Wake up BJ
by RayFanNY on Aug 24, 2008 11:47 PM EDT
22 comments
The Sunday afternoon loss the Rays suffered to Chicago belongs squarely on the heads of the umpiring crew. Yes, the call was horrible and completely gave the game to Chicago in what was shaping up to be a fun extra inning tilt between 2 quality teams.
However there is no way AJ Pierzinski should have been anywhere near second base in the first place. While I disagree with the ESPN "take" that BJ single handedly cost them the game, I for one have grown tired of having to make excuses for BJ's seemingly absent minded play at times.
Watching multiple replays, it is clear BJ again took too much for granted. He took multiple steps before throwing the baseball, which showed he was not aware of the potential for Pierzinski to head for second base. Secondly, he put very little on the throw. If BJ guns it, with his tremendous arm, there is a play at second without question. He didn't seem aware of the situation.
I could defend BJ here and rip Gross and Zobrist for not helping him out. After all, they should have been yelling to BJ to gun it into second because it is easier for them to see the situation developing. Iwamura and Bartlett should be doing the same from the infield. But ultimately this falls back on BJ. He has to be aware of the developing situation, and cannot count on everyone else to tell him what to do.
One week ago, BJ is apologizing to his team for a bizarre base running snafu. Twice within the last month, BJ is benched for not running out a ground ball. You can point your finger at the media for over blowing the situation. You can even make the claim that Maddon selectively punished BJ for doing what a few of his teammates have "gotten away with" this season. But when Cliff Floyd is expressing his concerns about BJ not running out plays, you better know this a real problem and the entire clubhouse is affected by it.
I'm not here to point the finger and blame BJ for losses. But it's time for BJ to freaking wake up and do more than just apologize. The Rays are the front running team in the toughest division in baseball headed into the end of August, and there will be wars to win in September if we are to hold on. We need BJ's head in the game on every play, and we need him to swing the bat with some semblance of what he was last season. The current OBP is nice, but the power numbers are too far down for someone of his talent. This kid should be putting the fear of God into opposing pitchers.
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100% right
My head almost went through the ceiling when I saw BJ glide back a few steps and AJ take 2nd base. Never should’ve happened. I’m an Upton fan, and by no means is he lazy as some have implied, but it’s true his head doesn’t seem completely in the game.
He’s having bad luck, too. First there was the ‘phantom juke’ towards 2nd base last week and yesterday’s 9th inning ground rule double that would’ve scored Aki. The man can’t win!
Jamie DeLuca
by JDeLuca on Aug 25, 2008 8:15 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Loss yesterday:
1) Umpiring
2) Shawn Riggans
…
17) BJ Upton
by Top Gun Numba 1 on Aug 25, 2008 8:35 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
You are 100% wrong
If you watched the game you would have noticed how difficult deep flyballs were. Dye and Quentin both looked EXTREMELY foolish. Under those conditions to expect a player to be able to camp under a high deep fly ball while also getting himself set to throw the ball is just totally unrealistic. This ball was carrying and darting and BJ did what he had t do to catch it. His momentum was taking him towards the fence.
If we were in the Trop AJ would have been held at first. But The Cell is certainly not the Trop as you should have noticed yesterday. Both teams scored a few runs based on the conditions.
by matthan on Aug 25, 2008 8:37 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
The wind has nothing to do with him throwing the ball in...
If he had missed the ball entirely, I would agree with you.
by steve-o1285 on Aug 25, 2008 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
There was no conviction with his throw. He freaking sailed the ball in. Even if he was off balanced he could have made a more conserted effort. I have seen Upton throw a cannon on more than one occassion being that deep. It was almost in slow motion
by Rays Rule on Aug 25, 2008 12:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
There's almost no chance that BJ could have gotten AJ
He would have needed to make a perfect throw to get him, and AJ was off either way. It’s another issue of whether AJ would have run on BJ in the first place if BJ didn’t have a reputation of lounging on plays like that, but there’s nothing he could have done in this game about it.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
by Brickhaus on Aug 25, 2008 9:50 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
So you don't even try to make it happen? BJ doesn't have the luxury of assuming anything
He will learn from this season, but it sure doesn’t look good on his resume.
by Rays Rule on Aug 25, 2008 12:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
There are multiple aspects to that play...
1) The wind was swirling making it difficult to get in a good position to throw the ball
2)It ABSOLUTELY is his teammates responsibilities to let him know the runner is tagging. How can BJ know this if he is looking at the ball. It is clear they either werent yelling, or he must not have heard them.
3)Having said that, BJ was way to casual once he caught the ball. He took a couple steps and turned and tossed the ball back in. He needs to catch the ball and turn and get the ball back in ASAP in that situation.
4)There was a good chance AJ would have been safe even if BJ had done this correctly, although it probably would have been close on a good throw.
I’m not sure why BJ took his time getting the ball back in. I didnt like it at all. His teammates MUST be yelling the runner is tagging. It appeared to me he was ASSUMING there was no tag, so he didnt rush the ball back in. Either way, BJ still has some fault for the slow manner he got the ball back to the infield.
by td32 on Aug 25, 2008 9:57 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Pena was screaming his head off
You could see Pena signalling out. Not sure whether that was enough though.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
by Brickhaus on Aug 25, 2008 11:46 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
BJ has to know, as a professional baseball player, that there is a man on first,
and that that man can tag-up, and go to second. admitting that yes, he was running back on the ball in a park with difficult wind to deal with, but watching the play you have to acknowledge they bj takes multiple slow steps in the direction he was jogging, before lackadaisically turning and TOSSING the ball back in. doesn’t matter if he COULD have got the out or not, he knows there is a man, who can tag, who isn’t all that fast, and he needs to expedite every part of that play sequence.
by davidsmarch on Aug 25, 2008 10:20 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I agree...
But I have a feeling the players werent letting him know AJ was tagging up. That is a play where the guy rarely tags, and BJ treated as such. If they were yelling TAG TAG, I guarentee he gets in in quicker. Having said that, he still needs to get the ball in quicker.
by td32 on Aug 25, 2008 11:28 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
carlos pena was...
yelling his ass off in the infield @ bj to get the ball back in. the tbs camera caught him. u could almost see it in pena’s body language—-“didnt we talk late into the night about this crap?”
i love bj…but if he had 20 homers, 40 steals, & was @ .300…MAYBE, almost, kinda is this acceptable…but, uhhh…
by liquidmuse3 on Aug 25, 2008 10:43 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Maybe Upton should take some of Baldelli’s steroids, you know, to sort of get him going. He seems sluggish out there. Or maybe Upton’s developing a post-steroids syndrome as well.
Posted by: Joe | August 24, 2008 at 08:37 PM
Oh yea, almost forgot. I like boys.
Posted by: Joe | August 24, 2008 at 08:47 PM
by Top Gun Numba 1 on Aug 25, 2008 10:45 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Upton's lack of awareness of a game situation
There is no way in the world with a centerfielder with anywhere near Upton’s arm strength and accuracy for a catcher to tag up at first and take second base on a flyball in center field unless the centerfielder is napping. Case closed. The replay showed BJ in his typical lackadaisical manner and not being aware of the possible consequences of his inaction.
No, this did not lose the game, Riggans “screwup” was the biggest contributor. Wait until Upton does this in a World Series game and it costs us a game. I hope it does not happen but you heard it first here. I just hope we do not have to depend on him being alert to game situations in the series. If we do we are in big trouble. Nuff said ,I was an Upton supporter but that was the last straw. All the talent int he world with nothing in the heart or brain to tell it what to do is of very little value. I’m for getting someone who is always in the game. We have to much to lose
by rayalan on Aug 25, 2008 1:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Come on
You make it seem like this was an easy flyball to mid centerfield. This was a very tough catch to make period. You aren’t giving him enough credit for actually catching that ball. Quentin would have probably had hit bank off his noggin. BJ made a late adjustment on the ball in order to catch it and this caused him to make the catch with his momentum going backwards and on the wrong shoulder. He did NOTHING wrong up until the point of catching the ball. At this point I guess you can argue he should have spun around faster and thrown it harder. However, there was just very little chance of getting AJ at 2nd.
by matthan on Aug 25, 2008 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
That's correct...
The ONLY thing you can complain about(and probably should) is not turing around quicker. He couldnt get set under it because of the way the wind took it. But he certainly took his tie turning around.
by td32 on Aug 25, 2008 3:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
no one's complaining that he couldn't get set under it,
that much was expected, on as you stated a deep wind-driven fly ball. but he took no less then THREE slow steps, TURNED around, and TOSSED the ball. if you change those 3 words to: ONE (maybe TWO), SPUN, and THREW, which all should be the norm, then we aren’t having this conversation.
by davidsmarch on Aug 25, 2008 5:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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