90% of the Game is Physical...
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...the other half is mental - Yogi Berra
Over the course of a seven game series, there are dozens of players, hundreds of at-bats, and thousands of pitches that decide which team advances and which one goes home. It is unfair and unwise to blame the loss of a series on a single moment or single play.
But it does make for an interesting article.
As fans, we usually temper our anger when it comes to physical mistakes. There are exceptions - A-Rod's post-season struggles in New York are glaring examples of physical mistakes bearing the brunt of the blame.
No, as fans we can usually forgive physical problems, but tend to harp upon the mental blunders that cost our team the series. For fans of the Cleveland Indians, there was one moment in their seven game series loss to the Boston Red Sox that will forever bear the brunt of their blame.
Indians third-base coach Joel Skinner made a split-second decision to hold up Kenny Lofton at third base during Sunday night's Game 7 of the American League Championship series. With the score 3-2 in favor of the Red Sox, Cleveland's Franklin Gutierrez smacked a base hit down the third base line. Lofton raced from second base and rounded third on his way to home plate when he got the stop sign from Skinner. The ball, which had taken an odd carom off the Fenway wall, was still on the ground as Red Sox left-fielder Manny Rameriz hustled to retrieve it. Lofton looked baffled by the stop sign from Skinner. Tribe coach Eric Wedge looked distraught over the decision. The television announcers went ballistic over the turn of events. One ground ball double-play later, the Red Sox went back to their dugout with their lead intact and momentum clearly on their side. They went on to blow out the Indians and move on to the World Series.
Skinner's decision will forever be remembered in baseball lore as a monumental mental gaffe. It did not cost the Indians the series (getting outscored 30-5 took after a 3-1 lead did that), but it will remain a great "What if?" moment for Tribe fans. Skinner is not the first, nor will he be the last, goat for a baseball playoff series because of a mental mistake. Consider his distinguished company:
- Lonnie Smith - Let's start with one of the greatest mental blunders in World Series history. The Braves and Twins were battling in perhaps the best World Series ever played. It was Game 7, a classic pitcher's duel between Atlanta's John Smoltz and Minnesota's Jack Morris. With the score still tied at 0-0 in the 8th inning, Terry Pendleton crushed a pitch into the gap for a double. Lonnie Smith was on first base at the time and seemed certain to score on the hit. Instead, Smith was duped by Twins second baseman Chuck Knoblaugh who pretended to be receiving a throw. Smith's hesitation at the duping was enough to cause him to be held at third base. Jack Morris got out of the inning and the game ended in the 10th inning as the Twins scored for a 1-0 victory and World Series ring. Smith's inexplicable confusion on the bases was the difference in the game and the series - a mental error for the ages.
- Jeremy Giambi - The base paths are a common place for magnificent mental mistakes. A's outfielder Jeremy Giambi made one of the most memorable ones in Game 3 of the 2001 American League Division Series. With Oakland up 2-0 and looking to put the Yankees away, Jeremy Giambi barreled towards home on an Athletic base hit. Everyone knows about Derek Jeter's amazing relay flip, but the other side of the equation was Giambi's decision not to slide into home plate. If Giambi hit the dirt, he could have easily avoided Jorge Posada's tag. Instead, Giambi was tagged out by Posada's mit and the A's ended up losing the game and eventually the series. There was a moment as Giambi headed towards the plate when he considered sliding and decided against it. That mental mistake might have cost his team the series.
- Richie Conway - How is this for a mental mistake? In a 1-1 game of the Little League World Series semi-finals, Conway caught an outfield throw and successfully tagged out the Mexican youngster attempting to advance to second base on the flyout. Conway spiked the ball to the ground in excitement about the double-play, forgetting there were still just two outs and forgetting there was a runner on third base (who had also tagged on the flyball). The runner scored and Conway's team lost the game. That mistake hurts just to write about it.
- Moises Alou - Ah, the famous Bartman ball. The Cubs were five outs away from the World Series when a Marlins foul ball headed into the front row of the left field line bleachers. Moises Alou reached his glove into the stands to make a spectacular catch. Enter Steve Bartman. The now-infamous Cubs fan made his own attempt to field the ball, preventing Alou from making the out. Alou could have jogged back to his position and let the play go, but instead he pitched a fit over Bartman's interference. Alou's temper-tantrum has been blamed by many fans for the Cubs 8th inning collapse and eventual loss to the Marlins. What if Alou had kept his composure after the incident? Why did he react so angrily for so long? It was the greatest mental mistake by a Chicago Cub since Philip Knight Wrigley decided to eject a goat from his field.
- Lou Pinella - Mental mistakes and Cubs do seem to go hand-in-hand, don't they? Here is a recent addition to the list and our first of several managerial ones. Of course, managers can only make mental mistakes as they do not get to take any sort of physical part in the game. There is nary a series that passes where managerial mental mistakes do not play a role, but a few are especially notable. This is one of them. Lou Pinella decided to pull his stud starting ace Carlos Zambrano from Game 1 of their 2007 NLDS series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Zambrano was matching D-Back ace Brandon Webb pitch-for-pitch and had only thrown 80 of them when the ball was taken by his skipper. Pinella's logic? He wanted to save Zambrano for Game 4 of the series. The problem with that logic? The Cubs needed to win at least one game in order to get to Game 4...and they never did. Pinella's decision to pull Zambrano from a 1-1 game to save him for a game that was never played goes down in Cubs lore among a mountain of other mental mistakes.
- Grady Little - Speaking of cursed teams, before 2004 it seemed that the Curse of the Bambino would forever haunt the Boston Red Sox. In 2003, manager Grady Little's decision to stick with starter Pedro Martinez in Game 7 of the ALCS in the 8th inning of a 5-3 game added another victim to the Bambino's hit list. Pedro was pitching well in Game 7, but had given up three straight hits to the Yankees and seemed to be running on fumes. With a rested and ready bullpen, Little visited the mound and decided to stick with his starter. The rest is history. Little lost his job over the gaffe. There may be no greater managerial decision in a series than how to use the pitching staff, and Little was not the first Red Sox skipper to blow it.
- John McNamara - Here is a three for the price of one pick. McNamara guided the Red Sox to the 1986 World Series against the New York Mets, but is often chided for single-handedly losing the series (okay, second to Bill Buckner) with his decisions in the final moments of Game 6 and beginning of Game 7.
Blunder #1 - McNamara pulled ace Roger Clemens from the game to go to his shaky bullpen. There is disagreement between Clemens and McNamara about what happened during his trip to the mound - McNamara says Clemens asked out because of a blister; Clemens claims he wanted to continue - so we'll cut McNamara some slack on this one.
Blunder #2 - McNamara left Bill Buckner at first base instead of bringing in defensive replacement Dave Stapleton. No slack here. Was it an oversight? Was it sentimentality about letting Buckner be on the field for the celebration? Was it the Bambino? Whatever it was, it led to the infamous Mookie Wilson ground ball between the legs and improbable Met comebacks. McNamara's decision to leave the nearly-crippled Buckner on the field is perhaps the greatest managerial mistake in World Series history.
Blunder #3 - McNamara was on a roll this series. Instead of pitching the rested Oil Can Boyd in Game 7, he turned to Bruce Hurst on three days rest. Hurst ran out of gas, the Mets rallied to win the game and series, and the questions about McNamara's decision-making were turned up to eleven.
So take heart, Joel Skinner. Your brain let you down at the worst possible time, but you are not alone and you will not be the last.
But how on Earth could you not send Lofton home???
