A few days ago, I wrote of Joe Morgan's comments in re: Christian Guzman, and how he was the kind of "veteran" who would "thrive" in the nation's capital. In tonight's ESPN game (Mets-Nationals) Joe made two choice comments about Guzman. (I was on a plane, so forgive the lack of direct quotation.)
First, in a game tied 3-3, Guzman was standing on second base with no outs in the 7th inning. Nick Johnson, Jose Vidro, and Jose Guillen, the 2-3-4 hitters, were due up. So what did Guzman do? He tried to steal 3rd. And got thrown out. Now, any color analyst worth his salt would excoriate a player who tries to steal 3rd with no outs in a tie game in the 7th inning WITH A LEFT-HANDED HITTER at the plate and the three best hitters on the team trying to knock him in. My goddamn *cat* would point out how stupid that is. But Joe Morgan? He says, "It's not necessarily a bad play."
Yes it is. It is unquestionably a stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid play. There is NO ADVANTAGE to being on 3rd with no outs at that moment. If Nick Johnson, who has terrific bat control, can simply ground to the right side (he had, to that point, walked, lined a 2-run single to right, and lined out hard to first), Guzman is standing on 3rd as the go-ahead run.
Then, in the ninth, with the Nats now down 6-3, Guzman leads off with a drive into the right field corner. He should have stopped at 2nd, down by three, but instead stretched it into a triple, beating the throw easily. Now, again, one might expect Joe Morgan to point out that there is no sense risking getting to third, as your team is down by three in the ninth, and that even though he got in fairly easily, it's a terrible baserunning decision -- one no doubt motivated by the fact that Guzman hopped up and down in anger when called out trying to steal in the 7th. Instead, Morgan praised Guzman's baserunning skills and talked glowingly about his "aggressive style of play."
I guess what I'm saying is, Joe Morgan has a crush on Christian Guzman.
Labels: christian guzman, joe morgan