It has rules that are officially written in a book. It has unofficial ones that are written, well, from what I can tell, no where. Yet somehow they are to be followed as if they were official.
The other night in Oakland, rule #NBDPG was broken. Here's the situation: top of the 5th inning. Dallas Braden has allowed no hits through 4 with Evan Longoria at-bat. Longoria lays down a bunt to try to get a rally started. Like the majority of bunt attempts, he is thrown out and the perfect game continues. No harm, no foul.
Here is the amazing thing. Some are accusing Longoria and manager Joe Maddon of breaking one of baseball's oldest unwritten rules - No Bunting During a Perfect Game. I gotta say folks, this is one that pisses me off beyond belief. We are talking about professional sports. As Herm Edwards would say, "You play to win the game!" That's it - in professional sports its about winning and losing. Tampa was losing 4-0 at that point and were being dominated by Braden. So they tried to get a runner on base. Some may say that it was a cheap way of attempting to get a hit; that somehow Tampa's best hitter bunting was a trick that would catch the Oakland defense off guard. I think that's ridiculous. How is that any different than Longoria having his bat broken and getting a bloop single over the second baseman? Or a swinging bunt where Longoria barely makes contact and the ball slowly trickles down the line? Or a fl ball that hits the roof at the Trop or the rightfield overhang at Target Field?
The fact that this happened in the 5th inning makes the outrage even more ridiculous. At what point is a no-hitter considered to be a big deal? Does the Bottom Line even report no-hitters being thrown prior to the 6th inning? I don't think I have ever seen it. Fact is, a no hitter through 12 batters should not be considered a no hitter. It just isn't. And neither is a no hitter through 2 innings. A batter leading off the 3rd with a bunt base hit did not break the rule. Neither did Longoria. Fact is, there should be no rule. Unwritten rules are unwritten for a reason - they are not official. Mostly they govern how we interact socially. Professional baseball should not be subject them.
[Editors Note: There is only one that I can think of that I support: If you are going to throw at someone, keep it away from their head]
I think the NBDPG rule should be modified and made written. Here is what I propose:
ReplyDeleteTake the # of innings left in the game and subtract the current score from it. If the answer is a positive number or 0, then bunting is allowed. If it's a negative number, then bunting is not allowed.
For example, if the score is 3-0 with 1 out in the seventh, it would be 2.67-3 = -(1/3). So no bunting allowed.
In this case, the Rays were down 4-0 with 2 outs in the 5th. So it would be 4.33-4 = .33. So Longoria was OK to bunt in that spot.
Good rule or bad rule? I like it.
I think the rule is a good one, if you agree that there should be a rule regarding this.
ReplyDeleteI just still don't see it. Maybe it's because I never played baseball, but when I'm playing another sport, lets say soccer and I'm losing 4-0, I am certainly pressing to score a goal. At the end of the day, losing 4-1 is better than 4-0. The other team wants to keep the shutout for their keeper, so they are ready for anything. If it's the 9th inning in a no-hitter, I think the opposition should be prepared for anything. No one wants to be no-hit. I'd be willing to do whatever it takes to get a hit...
Longoria should have trotted across the mound on his way back to the dugout. Maybe that would have helped out Los Rays.
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