It Ain't Over 'til It's Over!

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I have never understood why Major League Baseball players can be so lazy. They just don't keep the hustle up and hope for the best even when it seems hopeless. I mean, what else do they have to do? The time they get to be at bat or on the base paths is limited, and they get to play a game and get paid millions of dollars, so what is the problem? Why do almost all stoop to loafing and quitting and giving up before the play is over? Watching Oswaldo Arcia give up on the base paths against the Tigers as he ran through a hold sign raised my ire to new heights. More about that later.

 

Time after time I watch a batter strikeout on a swinging strike in which the ball is not caught by the catcher, and they don't take off and try to extend the play and make the catcher make a play at first. It happens all the time. Most don't even look to see if the catcher caught the ball and the play is over. They just quit and be mad at themselves or fall back on feeling sorry for themselves when they can still extend the play. They stand there and start taking off their shin pads or elbow pads and don't even look, and get tagged out effortlessly to end the play. It ain't over 'til it's over! Sure, even if they do pay attention, and do get out the the box and on the way to first, the chances are slim that they won't be thrown out easily. But it can happen. And it does happen. Every throw you make someone do can go awry. And what else do they have to do? Walk to the dugout? Take their batting gloves off? Run you lazy spoiled ball player. Get your ass on down the line. 

 

And then there are the grounders right at an infielder. Loafing down to first base the batters go, begging for the play to end and many don't even touch first base. No sprinting to first and applying pressure. And the loafing on fly balls that are really tagged and are surely home runs...... that aren't. Now the triple is barely a double, or the double is a single. What is wrong with these people? Why do managers not tighten up the ship?

 

Which brings me to Tuesday night, Twins against the Tigers. To end the bottom of the 5th, Oswaldo Arcia blows through a stop sign rounding third and is out by a mile, instead of holding and having the bases loaded. When the catcher has the ball Arcia is sitll at least 30 feet from home plate. He is already giving up and slowing down and conceding the play. He is looking right at Avila as he catches the ball. Does Arcia try to make a play? Nothing. He gives up and trots into the tag. I even saw Yadier Molina do the same thing in the playoffs 2 years ago.  Why not stop, get in a rundown. You never know what can happen. He also could have used deception, and acted just like he did, and then made a dive on his belly to the plate, and faked out the catcher. Be creative. Make an athletic play. Dodge the tag. Something. Anything! He was almost safe anyway, because Avila just waited to tag him on the belly right at the plate. If you use slow mo to see that play, the tag barely was made on him before his foot touched the plate. He could have even carried out the fake and scored, perhaps, with his foot and deception. But he gave up on the play. It ain't over until it's over. Ever. To give up on the play is just lazy and irresponsible of professionals, and it happens all the time.