Reese Kaplan -- Painful Game Outcomes From Defensive Lapses

The game of baseball is full of joy and heartache depending on the results that occur that either exceed your wildest expectations or crush you when you’d already written the game into the win column but it was not to be.

Yesterday’s game against San Diego was one of those up and down emotional affairs with outstanding work for the fourth straight outing by former Padre Joey Lucchesi.  Over five pretty masterful innings he gave up a single run, struck out six, walked just one batter and allowed only four hits.  He left the game with a lead and most folks were writing in ink the Mets’ standing improvement.

Of course, that didn’t happen as expected with ugly contributions from Jeurys Familia and Jacob Barnes including long balls that propelled the Padres to an unexpected come-from-behind victory.  We’ve all been there when it seemed so easy to relax and feel confident that the game was in hand only to have the wind knocked out of us.

The question that disturbingly went through my mind today is what negative outcome is indeed the most painful to endure and the least anticipated of all?  I’ll spare you from the specifics of various Mets losses in the past but present them more generically to solicit your opinions.

How about the outfield collision when a ball is hit between the left and center fielder, or between the center fielder and right fielder.  Both go charging at it full speed, resulting in a rather horrific collision, injuries often resulting and the ball trickling to the wall allowing the baserunner to circle them all as a result of the defensive mishap?

Then there is the dropped ball.  How awful is it when a pretty routine pop up is lined up by an infielder or outfielder, patiently awaiting its descent on a route from the bat into the glove.  Then, at the last minute, it hits the glove and bounds away with the error allowing the baserunner to reside safely on base and any runners already there to advance at will.  

A similar situation occurs when a ground ball makes its way to one of the defensive players who lines up to glove it (or at worst, block it with his body).  Then the ball either take a funny hop or the fielder isn’t down low enough and that routine grounder gets past him with the hitter getting a free base and the runners allowed to score on what should have been a routine play.

From the pitcher’s perspective there are equally disheartening options available as well.  Who has cringed, watching a hurler somehow forget how to throw strikes?  This situation can result in free passes to the hitter to advance base runners into scoring positions.  

A variation on this scenario is when a pitcher unintentionally beans a batter somewhere on his body which not only gives him the free base, but also advances any existing baserunners.  There is a further emotional component here with the opposing team questioning whether or not the plunk was intentional.  

A tied-at-the-hip situation that is always unwelcome is when a pitch gets away, ruled a wild pitch if not even close to the zone or a passed ball if it should have been handled by the catcher.  Regardless of who gets charged with the failure, the end result is the same -- a green light for base runners to move ahead one or more bases depending on whether or not there were already in motion before this debacle ensued.

Finally, there are the offensive errors of judgment and omission that can cause comebacks to sputter angrily as a consequence.  What about the batter that leaves the bat on his shoulder when contact is needed?  What about the double or triple play off the batted ball?  What about the lack of attention of base runners who lean too far off the base to be safe there or who make ill-fated stolen base attempts when either the pitcher or catcher have curtailed the advantage of long leads and early starts.  

Any way you slice it, these types of situations indeed can ruin your day, but bear in mind it’s merely one out of the 162 days of the baseball season.  It’s when these situations occur with frequency that you really need to get worried.