Johnny Damon Steals Two Bases
November 2, 2009Isn’t that baseball? Just when you thought you’d seen it all, some guy steals two bases on one pitch.
What an awesome play. The kind of play big leaguer’s live for. The kind of play you rehearse in your mind that may only happen once in a lifetime. These are the types of plays that make great players great.
Chris Farley said it perfectly, “I swear I’ve seen a lot of stuff in my life, but that…was…AWESOME!”
Here was his thought process according to John Harper of the NY Daily News.
As the Phillies shifted for Teixeira, Damon saw the field like a quarterback and envisioned his double-steal. He knew that Feliz, the third baseman, would cover the bag, and he would watch to see if Lidge reacted to cover third, and if everything went right he would outrun Feliz to third.
“We’ve talked about it throughout the year because of the shift,” Damon said. “I was trying to be aggressive, and I kind of had to see all that stuff develop. I had to see where Pedro caught the ball, and I saw it dragged him off the bag some.”
Contrary to what most folks think, you can’t chalk these types of plays up to just “good instincts.” Damon obviously reacted correctly, but he only reacted correctly because the whole event had already happened in his head.
It goes back to what I’m always harping on about anticipation. The great players make great use of all the “in-between-action” time in baseball by envisioning all the possibilities. It’s the reason why guys like Jeter or Mauer seem to be conveniently in the right spot at the right time all the time. It’s not luck. It’s because they use their imagination better than the average guy. They see action before it happens and then just react when it happens.
And when it happens, let me tell you, man it’s satisfying. It sure must’ve been satisfying to Damon as his steal play changed the whole complexion of the game. It may very well have won the game for the Yankees.
By standing on third base, he definitely altered the pitch sequence to A-Rod. Either Lidge or Ruiz didn’t want to risk the past ball scenario, opting instead for fastballs.
Here’s the facts. Before Damon reached third, Lidge had thrown fastballs on 10 of 21 pitches — and then after Damon reached third, seven of his next 9 pitches were fastballs.
Good stuff. So to review, what did we learn today class? That’s right…
1. Anticipate action
2. If you think you know it all and have seen it all in baseball, you’re full of crap.
Johnny Damon, midway through his well choreographed, well executed steal play.
With so many of todays players in that station to station mentallity, this is one of the best plays I’ve seen on the bases maybe ever, somewhere in West Covina, Jeff Cox had an adrenaline rush that registered on the richter scale when he saw this play!!!
p.s. Yes indeed, III LIKE IT!
Yeah, you’re right….I could feel Coxy going nuts in the valley. All Right Now!!!
[...] you go back a couple blogs ago to the “Johnny Damon Steals Two Bases” post, I make a big deal about what goes on in a player’s head for a play like that to occur. [...]