The Granite Play

[Doubles]

I don't think it was as catastrophic as some, but Granite stepping over first base last night was absolutely confounding to me.    Think of all the times a ballplayer has run a ball out.    Played ball when I was younger, then some town ball, then finally came to grips with the fact I could no longer catch up to a fastball, and finished up playing slow-pitch.    I'm not sure my brain would allow me to over-step first base even if I tried.    That's a whole lotta muscle-memory to re-direct.   

 

Interesting quote from Granite in Phil & LaVelle's story in the Strib:    

 

“I felt his momentum was taking [Kahnle] through the bag, and I was afraid I was going to step on him. And I just missed the base” with an extra-long stride, Granite said. “It was stupid. I should have stepped on him.”

 

Think about that for a second.  "I was afraid I was going to step on him."    Is that the most accurate metaphor for Twins / Yankees EVER? 

 

Twins are afraid to step on the Yankees feet, while the Yankees would prefer to step on the Twins' collective throats, rip their hearts out and eat them, whilst committing unspeakable acts to every single one of their mothers and their wives if it would mean winning a ball game. 

[yarnivek1972]

Well, you never want to hurt a guy. And if Granite steps on his foot, he could just as easily turn his own ankle.

 

But, yes. It does rank up there in Fred Merkle territory.

[Loosey]

 

"I was afraid"

Those are the 3 words I keep focusing on.  

[jctwins]

All I could think about is Jim Pohlad at Twinsfest during the Q&A sitting on the stage with a ****-eating grin saying his favorite player in the minor leagues was Zach Granite "because I like his name."

 

 

[spinowner]

 

Well, you never want to hurt a guy. And if Granite steps on his foot, he could just as easily turn his own ankle.

But, yes. It does rank up there in Fred Merkle territory.

Bit of an overstatement comparing this to Merkle but he should have been able to leap a little and get his foot safely on the base. But this is now two WTF moments for him, the first being that brain spasm that resulted in the throw to first base instead of home in Dodger Stadium.

[yarnivek1972]

Bit of an overstatement comparing this to Merkle but he should have been able to leap a little and get his foot safely on the base. But this is now two WTF moments for him, the first being that brain spasm that resulted in the throw to first base instead of home in Dodger Stadium.

Well, that’s a typical month from Rosario. So...

[Mike Sixel]

Benching him seemed a bit overly dramatic to me, and hurt the team's defense.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

A whole new generation of Twins players learning to be afraid of the Yankees. Oh, joy.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

On a less cynical note, this should tip people off as to why players slide into first base. Because they can run all out 100% without having to worry about striking the bag in stride, if their stride is off. Hosmer did this in the Game 7 a few years ago and everyone said Hosmer was a dummy. Even Bill Nye got it wrong that night. This is why Dozier and Punto slid into first base. Giving 100% to get there. More players should do it on more plays, not just the Granite type of play.

 

Sorry. I'll get off my soapbox.

[wavedog]

I think there was plenty of first base to touch and he was not even close to touching it.    It seemed like he just ran his normal stride - it wasn't like he hopped over the pitchers foot to miss the bag.   But that is from my memory of last night - haven't watched the play again.  

[Doomtints]

Plain vanilla rookie mistake. This isn't on Granite, this is on Molitor. There was no point in having Granite on the roster for the game.

[Doomtints]

 

Well, you never want to hurt a guy.

 

See what the OP wrote, though. Did you see it when a Yankee took out another rookie (Nishioka) at 2nd, killing any chance he had of a career in the US? I'm sure you saw the other collisions at 2nd in the era in question.

 

Doubles is correct. The quote accurately defines the Twins-Yankees relationship over the years.  

[yarnivek1972]

Plain vanilla rookie mistake. This isn't on Granite, this is on Molitor. There was no point in having Granite on the roster for the game.

And have who instead? A 12th pitcher?

[yarnivek1972]

Benching him seemed a bit overly dramatic to me, and hurt the team's defense.

I don’t know that was the case, unless something was said. Adrianza pinch hit for Castro. But since he’s the back up at 3b, ss and 2b, he had to remain in the game somewhere.

[crop duster]

On the same general note of being afraid of the yankees, why wasn't Gardner on his backside on the first pitch of his AB after the home run? He was overly dramatic getting out of the way of a high tight pitch that was obviously an accident since Santana wasn't within 18" of his spot on most pitches. That plus hiis little bat flip and stare down should've warranted a deliberate brush back next time.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Benching him seemed a bit overly dramatic to me, and hurt the team's defense.

 

Agreed... I get keeping Adrianza in there. Granite's smart and talented. He knew what he did, and it'll obviously never happen again. I don't know what the lesson is in it.

[Seth Stohs]

 

A whole new generation of Twins players learning to be afraid of the Yankees. Oh, joy.

 

Granite isn't afraid of playing the Yankees... I guarantee that. 

[Doubles]

I don't mean to take Granite's quote so literally-  I don't believe Granite is afraid, really at all.    But that quote just seems to sum up the Twins / Yankees dynamic.    

[Guest]

Granite doesn't get amped up and turn on the jets - maybe it's not as close a play and missing the base would probably be moot.

 

Santana doesn't get amped up and turn on the jets - maybe he has better control and gets out of the first inning without damage.

 

It's called getting used to being in the playoffs. Hopefully they can figure it out next year.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I don't mean to take Granite's quote so literally-  I don't believe Granite is afraid, really at all.    But that quote just seems to sum up the Twins / Yankees dynamic.

 

Agree. Yes.

[spinowner]

 

See what the OP wrote, though. Did you see it when a Yankee took out another rookie (Nishioka) at 2nd, killing any chance he had of a career in the US? I'm sure you saw the other collisions at 2nd in the era in question.

 

Doubles is correct. The quote accurately defines the Twins-Yankees relationship over the years.  

Based on the standards of play in place at the time (before the new rules covering plays at second base) Nishioka was at fault. Or, more accurately, the Twins manager and coaches were at fault for not teaching him proper technique at turning double plays. Nick Swisher was very remorseful about the injury that occurred on his slide. And I hate to say it, but the injury did not prevent Nishi from succeeding in the US. He was way overmatched, again the fault of the Twins for the extremely poor judgement of the scouts involved in evaluating and signing him.

[Mike Sixel]

 

On a less cynical note, this should tip people off as to why players slide into first base. Because they can run all out 100% without having to worry about striking the bag in stride, if their stride is off. Hosmer did this in the Game 7 a few years ago and everyone said Hosmer was a dummy. Even Bill Nye got it wrong that night. This is why Dozier and Punto slid into first base. Giving 100% to get there. More players should do it on more plays, not just the Granite type of play.

Sorry. I'll get off my soapbox.

 

if only sliding head first didn't lead to wrist and hand injuries......

[Mike Sixel]

Not wanting to step on the guy=not wanting to twist his own ankle or otherwise get hurt.....

[Doomtints]

 

Based on the standards of play in place at the time (before the new rules covering plays at second base) Nishioka was at fault. 

 

I was responding to the comment saying "no one wants to hurt anybody." Granite would not have "broken a rule" either, so I have no idea what you're talking about.

[Doubles]

 

Plain vanilla rookie mistake. This isn't on Granite, this is on Molitor. There was no point in having Granite on the roster for the game.

I'm not sure it's humanly possible for me to completely disagree more with all three points made in this post.

[Sssuperdave]

While this play certainly stunk, it mostly gets a "meh" from me for several reasons:

 

• None of us have any clue what it's actually like to play in an MLB postseason game. When you are in a situation you've never been in before, sometimes you do things you've never done before. I used to perform a lot as a musician, and more than once I made a mistake on stage mid-solo that I'd never made in practice. Your body just does things differently. When I was practicing my mouth would often have too much moisture in it, but when performing it would be too dry, and that caused weird stuff to happen.
• As Seth said, I'm certain Granite is not "afraid" of the Yankees. "I was afraid of..." is just a thing we say when explaining why we did or didn't do something. To read anything else into it is to take it way out of context.
• The whole sliding into first thing to not get hurt is an interesting thought. I'm not an athlete by any stretch, but playing slow pitch softball I've tweaked muscles when I stretch for that last step down the line and land on the bag the slightest bit awkwardly, and that's without a foot to think about stepping on. Granite is obviously in good enough shape that he's not going to pull a muscle landing on the bag, but I think trying to avoid stepping on a foot is totally legit. 

Granite himself said it was dumb, and I think it probably was, but it's also just not a big deal in my opinion.

[Doomtints]

 

 

• As Seth said, I'm certain Granite is not "afraid" of the Yankees. "I was afraid of..." is just a thing we say when explaining why we did or didn't do something. To read anything else into it is to take it way out of context.

 

That's not at all what was said. He was using a metaphor.

 

Twins of the 2000s+: Underdogs (payroll/contraction/small market), play a gentlemanly game of baseball, "Minnesota Nice."

Yankees: High budget superheroes (or villians if you want) who can make magic happen at will. No qualms about stealing signs, barreling over people, beaning people. Anything for a win.

 

I don't remember the term "Minnesota Nice" being thrown around when Puckett and Hrbek were the faces of the franchise. Ask a Braves fan about how polite Hrbek was during gametime.

 

The Red Sox started to turn things around when they decided to stop playing baseball as if it were tea time, pinkies in the air and all. The Twins got more aggressive this year and good things happened immediately!

[Sssuperdave]

 

That's not at all what was said. He was using a metaphor.

 

Twins of the 2000s+: Underdogs (payroll/contraction/small market), play a gentlemanly game of baseball, "Minnesota Nice."

Yankees: High budget superheroes (or villians if you want) who can make magic happen at will. No qualms about stealing signs, barreling over people, beaning people. Anything for a win.

 

I don't remember the term "Minnesota Nice" being thrown around when Puckett and Hrbek were the faces of the franchise. Ask a Braves fan about how polite Hrbek was during gametime.

 

This is literally the first time I've ever heard the term "Minnesota Nice" used to describe the Twins of the 2000s.  The term wasn't thrown around when Puckett and Hrbek were the faces of the franchise, and it's not being thrown around now by anyone but you.

 

[Old Twins Cap]

I've seen runners miss first base before, probably four or five times, so it does happen occasionally, especially when the runner has his head up and something unusual is happening near the bag.

 

I am definitely in the camp of, "Hey, I missed the base and the Yankees were heads up enough to catch it."

 

There is no larger meaning or issue here than that.  It's simply what happened.

[h2oface]

 

Granite's smart and talented. He knew what he did, and it'll obviously never happen again. I don't know what the lesson is in it.

 

This is the second incredibly not smart play from Granite, and both with a very important game on the line. The first was in Los Angeles, when he threw it to first base, where there was no one there, (and the play, if any, was to home to get a tagging runner, and where Mauer correctly was as the cut off man) and consequently gave up a couple of runs and was responsible for a Dodger come from behind win. Smart is not a word I would use to describe Granite. I think he said something like that would never happen again.... and then it did..... again. He didn't miss the base... he chose not to step on the base. Incredulous. You have one mission running down the first base line, because anything can happen........ and that is to STEP ON THE BASE!!!!