I missed this when I was doing the recaps, but the ending of the Dodgers-Rockies game was pretty nifty. Well, if you were a Rockies fan or if you like to rag on third base coaches and stuff.
Bottom of the 10th, two down, Dodgers down by a run. Reed Johnson was on first base when Scott Podsednik’s hit one to center that dropped in front of Dexter Fowler, who was playing Podsednik somewhere just south of Modesto. Fowler picked it up however and, rather than getting all macho about it and trying to nail Podsednik at home himself, did the smart thing and relayed it to the guy with the better arm. Troy Tulowitski threw a bullet home and nailed Johnson by several feet, ballgame over.
Joe Torre defended Larry Bowa’s decision to send Johnson, saying that the Rockies had to make a perfect throw. They did make a perfect throw, of course, but given how much room they had to spare in tagging Johnson out, they probably would have gotten him with a merely good one.
Hindsight, I suppose. I think it would be really hard to be a third base coach. My instinct would probably be to send guys more often than guys currently get sent, and they’d get nailed a lot, most likely.
