|
I usually don't have any problem with baseball's "unwritten rules," but I saw that the Twins weren't happy with Sisco bunting in that situation and said to myself "that has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
First of all, the Orioles were down by seven runs. They needed baserunners, and Sisco's job, in that situation, was to get on base. Would the Twins have been upset if Sisco had drawn a walk?
Secondly, if the Twins thought the game was all-but-over, why did they put the shift on? It's OK for them to use the shift to keep Sisco from getting on base, but somehow it's unfair of Sisco to take advantage of the shift?
Thirdly, Sisco bunted to the unoccupied position at third base. Isn't that the implicit trade-off of the shift? You overload one side of the infield to minimize the batter's strengths, and in exchange you give him pretty much a free base hit to the other side. Putting on the shift means giving away a single in exchange for stopping an extra-base hit. So, in this case, the shift worked. Sisco got a single instead of a double. Why would the Twins complain?
|