Friday, November 4, 2011

2011 Tribe Memorable Play: Varitek's Mental Mistake

When things are going good they're going good. 

April 6, 2011: The Boston Red Sox were 0-4 on the season and were trailing the Indians 3-2 entering the bottom of the sixth inning. Red Sox relief pitcher Dennys Reyes was on the mound in relief of Daisuke Matsuzaka and he hit Travis Buck and Matt Laporta and walked Jack Hannahan to load the bases without retiring a batter. Dan Wheeler was called in to replace Reyes and Michael Brantley sent a line drive to Kevin Youkilis at third base.

Youkilis was unable to catch the ball in the air but since the  runners were frozen at their respective bases he had an easy double play. All Youkilis had to do was step on third and throw home to Varitek and Buck would be caught in a rundown and tagged out. Youkilis did his part by stepping on 3rd base but Jason Varitek thought it was a force out at home or didn't see Youkilis step on the bag and never tagged Travis Buck!

To make matters worse the next batter was Asdrubal Cabrera and he hit a 3-run homer to give the Indians an 7-2 lead. The Indians went on to win the game 8-4 and sent the Red Sox to their fifth straight defeat to begin the year.


No comments:

Post a Comment