Official Postseason Discussion Thread

[The Dane]

I'm saying that there's a possibility that's exactly what happened...would you want to make the last out of the WS on a play that's extremely chancy at best? Made even more chancy because you can't really initiate any contact with the catcher for fear of being called out? It may have been a coin flip's chance last year, this year the odds are tilted distinctly in the favor of the catcher....IF he has the ball. And on a play like that it certainly would have been bang-bang...and BTW, I'm certainly not the only one who's speculated this scenario.[/url]

Fair enough, but it seems like the article you site seems to conclude that he should have stayed on third regardless. Seems odd to blame this rule change, and Bochy's influence toward making it a reality, on a play that "both Gordon and third-base coach Mike Jirschele defended".

Now, if there actually had been -and not just in anyone's feverish hallucinatory dreams- a bang-bang play at the plate and Gordon ever-so-slightly came in contact with a properly-positioned Posey and the series ended on THAT out, well then, you might actually have cause to complain. Then, I could see how Bochy's rules tinkering brought him a series on the last play. Even, I'd think that was pretty cheap. But anything short of that -including, but not limited to what actually, you know, happened- I gotta play it as it lays. As Fresno says, if Gordon had run like Pence runs, he'd have scored pretty easily, but he didn't. If Jirschele had sent Gordon, we could have tested the arms, but he didn't. These things didn't happen. Gordon stopped at third, by both his and his 3rd base coach's judgment; new rule or not, they were not about to give the Giants a last out like that, especially with the only guy who could touch Bumgarner coming up to bat.

What actually happened gives you no room to grouse. If some slightly different things happened, then perhaps, yes. But, again, they didn't happen.

[Hornsby]

Fair enough, but it seems like the article you site seems to conclude that he should have stayed on third regardless. Seems odd to blame this rule change, and Bochy's influence toward making it a reality, on a play that "both Gordon and third-base coach Mike Jirschele defended".

Now, if there actually had been -and not just in anyone's feverish hallucinatory dreams- a bang-bang play at the plate and Gordon ever-so-slightly came in contact with a properly-positioned Posey and the series ended on THAT out, well then, you might actually have cause to complain. Then, I could see how Bochy's rules tinkering brought him a series on the last play. Even, I'd think that was pretty cheap. But anything short of that -including, but not limited to what actually, you know, happened- I gotta play it as it lays. As Fresno says, if Gordon had run like Pence runs, he'd have scored pretty easily, but he didn't. If Jirschele had sent Gordon, we could have tested the arms, but he didn't. These things didn't happen. Gordon stopped at third, by both his and his 3rd base coach's judgment; new rule or not, they were not about to give the Giants a last out like that, especially with the only guy who could touch Bumgarner coming up to bat.

What actually happened gives you no room to grouse. If some slightly different things happened, then perhaps, yes. But, again, they didn't happen.

They defended the play under the rules as they currently stand, not the rules as they stood for over a century. Again, nobody really knows what might have happened if the rules had never changed. And honestly, chastising a guy for not scoring an inside-the-park homer with 2 outs in game 7 of the World Series is pretty silly. Again, given the no contact rules as they currently stand.

And I get it, you're a fan defending his team...I have no dog in this fight, my team is miles away from playing in a meaningful game. This allows me to see things without any bias at all...at least as little as any fan of the game itself can.

And honestly, my hat is off to Bochy...I'm sure that he never envisioned a situation like this when he and others pushed for the change. He was just looking to protect his MVP from another grievous injury...good for him, Posey, the Giants, and their fans, bad for the game, IMO.

[Judge Jude]

I don't have a dog in the fight, either, and I don't think the "Posey rule" had anything to do with what happened on that play, at all.

[Pogues]

And honestly, chastising a guy for not scoring an inside-the-park homer with 2 outs in game 7 of the World Series is pretty silly.

And I get it, you're a fan defending his team...I have no dog in this fight, my team is miles away from playing in a meaningful game. This allows me to see things without any bias at all...at least as little as any fan of the game itself can.

If he had rounded third, slid into home, and was called safe...it still wouldn't have been an inside-the-park home run. It was called a single with a 2-base error.

My non-dog status saw it this way: The relay to Crawford was quick enough that the third base coach knew there was no damn chance that Gordon was going to score, and I was not surprised in the least he held him up at third. Even with Bumgarner on the mound, it made the most sense to go with a 90:10 chance he'd be out at home, old rules, new rules, whatever. All it would have taken was a weak single, an error, a wild pitch, a passed ball, and the game is tied.

[The Dane]

And I get it, you're a fan defending his team...I have no dog in this fight, my team is miles away from playing in a meaningful game. This allows me to see things without any bias at all...at least as little as any fan of the game itself can.

I'm not gonna deny that I'm not a fan, but I don't think that really plays a part in my analysis of this situation. I freely admitted to you that it would have been cheesy to win the series on a play that invoked the "Posey Rule." I'd have taken the win, because I am a fan, but I'd be the first to say it was dubious. When it comes to sports, my heart and my head hum at different frequencies, I assure you.

(FWIW, last year, I was in five leagues. I owned Bumgarner in one. I traded for Posey in one. [RJEL] I had Hector Sanchez in one for a sliver of the season. I FAABed Susac in two. That's it. I'm certainly NOT a homer when I'm building my fantasy teams. With the Series win, I imagine all the Giants will have slightly inflated value and I will end up with even fewer of them in 2015.)

[Judge Jude]

I am a Mets fan who didn't own a single Met all year.
Amusingly, I owned 10 different Giants - 9 of them hitters plus traded for Matt Cain in May. But I owned most of the bad ones including Sanchez, Duvall, Colvin, and first-half Arias.

[Fresno Bob]

Gordon didn't hustle because he thought he hit a routine single, that's why he didn't score on a play with two outfield errors that would have required a perfect throw to nail him. Go back and look at the video as to how deep Crawford is.