Howard's fielding woes not costly
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Ryan Howard's early gaffe was quickly erased. So was his misplay in the sixth inning. While nothing is more crucial to postseason success than solid pitching, good defense sure can come in handy.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Ryan Howard's early gaffe was quickly erased. So was his misplay in the sixth inning.
While nothing is more crucial to postseason success than solid pitching, good defense sure can come in handy.
Howard cleanly fielded leadoff hitter Akinori Iwamura's grounder, but miscalculated the race to the first-base bag. Although pitcher Cole Hamels was in position to cover, Howard never threw the ball and Iwamura was safely aboard.
But three pitches later, B.J. Upton grounded into a doubleplay, finished off by a sweetheart turn from shortstop Jimmy Rollins.
The Rays threatened again in the third by loading the bases with one out. Upton then rolled a grounder that third baseman Pedro Feliz vacuumed up to start another doubleplay. Upton hit into only 13 DPs in 531 regular-season at-bats, but grounded into two in his first two World Series appearances.
"Those are always big," pitching coach Rich Dubee observed. "It quieted the place down a little bit and he never really allowed them to get too much momentum going."
But the key defensive moment had nothing to do with leather.
Howard, who made a nice, leaning grab of a foul ball to end the fifth, fumbled Carlos Pena's grounder to start the sixth.
Hamels then promptly picked off Pena, who had only one stolen base during the regular season but was caught on his way to second. Perhaps the Rays had a hit-and-run play on. Whatever, Howard made a routine throw to second to nail Pena. The play seemed to deflate the Rays, who never had another baserunner.
"To get a guy out, especially on a pickoff play, is huge," Hamels said. "It puts the momentum back in my shoes."
Rays manager Joe Maddon led a chorus of dissatisfaction toward home-plate umpire Tim Welke after the play. His assertion was that Hamels balked.
"Timmy told me that he had stepped a bit toward first base, and my response was that . . . he also stepped toward home plate," Maddon said. "And I thought it was clearly a balk and obviously you can't argue a balk. You get kicked out for arguing a balk. What I did was even inappropriate. I had to take that chance right there, because I was adamant that I thought he had balked." *
