Taking Heat For Yesterday’s Post

Posted by
June 10, 2004

I’m taking a bit of heat (via email and blog comments) for my critique of Ty Wigginton yesterday. At least one person thought I was criticizing Jason Phillips for his throw to the plate too but I was not. I also was not making excuses for Kaz Matsui whose defense has been abysmal to say the least.

Bottom line is this:

  1. If Matsui makes the play then the inning is over and the game continues.

  2. If Wigginton holds the ball instead of throwing to first base then he’s got a shot at making the out at the plate. (It’s not a guarantee. Just a shot.)

  3. Phillips had virtually no chance at a play at the home due to how close the runner was to the plate when Phillips got the ball. Even a gold glove first baseman would have had a rough time making that play. (That’s not a knock on Phillips who has done a great job learning the position.)

  4. Vance Wilson could have made a better play on the throw home but IMHO would not have gotten the runner unless the throw was 100% perfect.

A few people mentioned that I should not knock guys who are learning new positions such as Wigginton and Phillips. Like I said above, I was not knocking on Phillips who did a better job adjusting to the position last year than Mike Piazza is doing this year. (Speaking from a strictly defensive standpoint here. Not putting down Piazza.) As for Wigginton, he is not learning a new position. He came through the minors playing second base and learned third base when the Mets decided to shift him over there last year. Obviously he’s a bit rusty and should be given a bit of slack for that. But the argument that he is learning a new position is erroneous.

Then what exactly was I saying? Everything that I had read before I wrote my post (including newspapers and blogs) was blaming Matsui for the loss. My point was to present a different angle to the loss than that which I had read and show that while Matsui’s error was a pivotal point in the inning there were also other mistakes in the Mets play which cost them the game. If you’re going to analyze that particular inning you cannot stop at blaming Matsui. You need to look at what else happened. Especially the things that happened after the error. If you don’t look at those things then you’re only doing half an analysis.

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