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Hoynes came up with an explanation for the fiasco at third base Friday night.
Some clarity on that play at third and 3 other things about the Cleveland Indians
If the Indians would have challenged Friday night's call at third base, they would have had a better result than the one they got.
1. Daniel Johnson screwed up. His instruction was to stay at third on a ground ball unless it got through, but he broke for home as the ball was hit and got caught off third. Individual mistake #1.
2. If Tito had challenged the call it would have been clear that Johnson was tagged out before Hernandez was tagged and Hernandez would have been safe, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Mistake #2 - not asking for a replay right away on a complicated play that happened very quickly and is easy to get wrong.
“They said if we would’ve challenged, they would’ve put Cesar at third with one out, which we would’ve definitely taken,” said Francona.
3. Tito was so mad he didn't think about challenging the call until after he was ejected and halfway to the locker room. He assumed it was too late to challenge the call. He has 20 seconds to decide and he spent a couple of minutes arguing which may have cost him the chance to get a review.
4. The Indians' replay coach wanted a review but with Tito blowing a gasket he wasn't able to get Tito's attention (my interpretation).
“Now, I will admit, during that conversation (with Hoye) nothing ever came up about replay,” said Francona. “It didn’t come up from me either. I probably would be remaking history because I don’t know. I mean I was mad.
“I got about halfway up the (dugout) hallway (after being ejected) and I was like, ‘Man, I wonder if we could replay something?’ DeMarlo (Hale, bench coach) kind of said the same thing and Barney (Mike Barnett, Indians replay coordinator) said the same thing".
So two bench coaches were asking for a replay but Tito was on the field screaming his head off and using up the allotted time. At least Tito manned up and admitted "I lost my composure".
My question is - what if this had been a playoff game? Managers don't have the luxury of losing their composure. Saying "I was mad" isn't an excuse. Fortunately, Bobby Bradley bailed everybody out, including "Barney" who should have rushed out and tackled Tito and told him to just ask for a replay instead of trying to make the ridiculous argument that Johnson shouldn't be out because Johnson got confused.
To be fair, I don't know if Barney was able to see exactly what happened in the allotted time. They probably did because every angle I saw showed Johnson clearly off the bag while he was being tagged by Perez before Hernandez was tagged.
The Indians ended up winning the game thanks to Karinchak pitching a scoreless ninth (despite giving up a leadoff double) and Bradley's walk-off, but that was a poor job of handling a crucial late game situation by Tito and I hope he realizes it and does a better job of controlling his emotions from here on in.
It was kind of a perfect storm of events that led to both runners being called out, including the umpire being screened so he couldn't see Johnson's hand come off the bag when he was first tagged. It's clear that nobody on the Indians bench realized what happened because Tito and Sarbaugh were arguing that Johnson left the bag on purpose AFTER Hernandez was tagged, thinking it was him that had been called out.
We won't see a play exactly like this again, but the key takeaways for me are that Johnson needs to learn to follow instructions (i.e. "Don't run on a ground ball until you see it go through") and Tito needs to avoid letting his emotions overcome his thinking process. Also, the replay coordinator needs to get more aggressive when he sees a play that needs to be reviewed.
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