Holliday's Pickoff

[TheKilo]

Hell of a job by the advanced scouts. I posted htis in the GT, but it deserves its own thread.

 

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2007/10/26/roaring_and_soaring/?page=2

 

 

At the plate was Todd Helton, the signature player in Rockies history. But he never saw a pitch in the eighth, as Papelbon whirled and picked off Holliday.

 

"Probably will go down as one of the biggest outs of my career," Papelbon said.

 

It was not happenstance. Holliday was intending to steal - he confirmed so after the game - and the Sox had a strong suspicion he was going.

 

They knew that the Rockies were scouting them in the Division Series against the Angels, when Howie Kendrick stole second and third unchallenged against Papelbon in the eighth inning of a tie game.

 

"If you were advancing us, you would have said the same thing, that Pap is 1.8 [seconds] to the plate, and he doesn't pick," Mills said. "But it was a different situation in the game against the Angels. We didn't care if he stole, because we had confidence in Paps getting the hitter and we didn't want to take anything away from him to try to get the runner on that situation.

 

"We know they're advancing us, they're watching it. That night I was talking to Pap in the shower about that exact thing, and about what was to come. [bullpen coach] Gary Tuck was talking to him about it, [pitching coach] John Farrell talked to him about it, about different things we were going to do."

 

When manager Terry Francona went out with trainer Paul Lessard to check on Pedroia, Mills noticed that Glenallen Hill, the Rockies' first base coach, never stopped talking to Holliday. Mills also had a color-coded chart he keeps on every player, that showed that Holliday likes to steal on the first pitch with two outs. "It was right there in my pocket," Mills said.

 

Indeed, it was right there on the chart, multiple steal attempts Holliday had made on the first pitch with two outs.

 

"You put all those things together, and it comes up, 'Hey, we're going to pick once to see where he's at, and then we're going to slide-step.'

 

How good do you feel about this organization right now?

[VA Sox Fan]

That pick off was the absolute s***! Great job by all!

[Mr Crunchy]

poor bastard in front of me wore a 1/4 cup of beer i spit out after the pickoff

i couldnt stop laffing

that boy holliday showed up to play this year but he mustve lost his f***ing mind getting picked off in the top of the 8th with helton up

[rician blast]

When I was a Jr. in H.S. we were down by a couple to a team in our league...6th inning I single with 1 out and proceed to get picked off by their lefty pitcher.

 

My coach screams across the field "where the hell are you going down 2 in the 6th." I never did that again...but heard about it many times from our coach. I was 16.

 

This guy is a pro? Fkn disgraceful...yet I loved it.

[TheKilo]

When I was a Jr. in H.S. we were down by a couple to a team in our league...6th inning I single with 1 out and proceed to get picked off by their lefty pitcher.

 

My coach screams across the field "where the hell are you going down 2 in the 6th." I never did that again...but heard about it many times from our coach. I was 16.

 

This guy is a pro? Fkn disgraceful...yet I loved it.

 

Papelbon doesn't hold runners well at all, so I can see the logic of trying to get a bigger lead.

 

The dugout tipped Papelbon off and they executed it to perfection.

[mtbykr]

I heard on WEEI and Glen Ordway was sitting next to Paps parents and Paps dad called the pickoff right before it happened.

[YAZMAN]

I heard on WEEI and Glen Ordway was sitting next to Paps parents and Paps dad called the pickoff right before it happened.

 

The story would have read better if it were his mom, because only a mother's optimism would be capable of making that call.

[example1]

This is GREAT advanced scouting and is indicative of a team that has its s*** together. They have the right pieces in place but haven't rested on their laurels. Like they always say, anything at all to get an edge can be the difference between a win and a loss.

 

This kind of thing should be expected in the majors, but it isn't the norm.

 

Holliday had 11 stolen bases this year, but it was an AWFUL time to be caught that far off base. Awful.

[Hammer]

poor bastard in front of me wore a 1/4 cup of beer i spit out after the pickoff

i couldnt stop laffing

that boy holliday showed up to play this year but he mustve lost his f***ing mind getting picked off in the top of the 8th with helton up

 

 

that makes 2 of us sph! how the faaak are ya down in the valley? long time no see eh?

haven't seen or heard from the Gman in a long time...he must be doing backflips up north over the sox and the pats..

 

hope everyones good down your way!

 

5:00 and it's millah time!

 

whoooooooooooooooooooouh!!!

[rician blast]

Hammr, "Rician" is the form "Centerfield", and I swear this morning I was just thinking what the hell happened to you.

 

Hope all is well with you.

[rician blast]

Papelbon doesn't hold runners well at all, so I can see the logic of trying to get a bigger lead.

 

So cna I BUT...in that situation if you get caught stealing, fine, you tried something and it didn't work...but you can't risk getting picked with that part of the line-up coming up and trailing.

[YAZMAN]

Plus, he really looked like he just got caught sleeping out there.

 

Youk had to wait for him to get back, he wasn't even close enough to sweep a tag on.

[Cocos Disciples]

Suppan's baserunning debaccle in 04 comes to mind.

[example1]

Suppan's baserunning debaccle in 04 comes to mind.

 

Yep. The kind of thing you couldn't run ass-backwards into in 90% of games. The kind of thing that players all over the world look and say "You should pay ME to do that Holliday!" Really, really poor baseball when it couldn't matter more.

[Mr Crunchy]

dave snyder in the flesh

hows your schmekel big man?

[See Red]

Plus, he really looked like he just got caught sleeping out there.

 

Youk had to wait for him to get back, he wasn't even close enough to sweep a tag on.

 

Yeah, as Holliday was diving back he had to pull his hand back so Youk couldn't tag it. Got caught napping because he didn't expect the throw... great job by everyone involved on the Red Sox side.

[jmcc]

Just another reason why Paps is the man

[silvercreekcc2006]

Hell of a job by the advanced scouts. I posted htis in the GT, but it deserves its own thread.

 

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2007/10/26/roaring_and_soaring/?page=2

 

 

 

 

How good do you feel about this organization right now?

Awesome. That's just awesome.