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Is there anything more universal than living things you could have done differently at some point in your life?
Almost a month removed from a gut-wrenching World Series loss, that’s why everyone involved in the Blue Jays’ heart-stopping run is reliving memories and regrets.
Don Mattingly is a case in point, as he spoke about heartbreak in an episode appearance give Podcast with Joel Sherman and John Hyman of the New York Post.
The former Blue Jays bench coach said that if there was one game he and the team would have handled differently, it would be the Isiah Kiner-Falifah base-running game in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7.
“That’s probably the one play that you realize, if we actually looked at it again and split it up a little bit the second time and said, ‘Hey, we can go on third down because (Dalton) Warsaw isn’t going on third down. If he gets to first, we can get it back, right? We’ll get a little more time,'” he said of the play. “So that’s one thing you can change. But it’s not the IKF’s fault – it’s probably one of our faults.”
The game was a comeback for the Blue Jays. Kiner-Falefa loaded the bases at third and faced Yoshinobu Yamamoto at the plate, the Dodgers hurler appearing in the Blue Jays’ collective nightmares.
Warsaw hit a soft grounder to second baseman Miguel Rojas, who fielded the ball and threw it to catcher Will Smith to strike out Kenner-Falifa at home plate.
It was a ridiculously tight game, with the officials putting the call under the microscope before confirming the out, but it could have gone the other way if Conner-Fifa took a slightly bigger lead from the third base bag.
The meeting noted that, at this point, it felt like Kiner-Fifa was taking a reasonable lead out of the bag, preventing the possibility of another play should Warsaw line up at third base. But what these split-second decisions don’t take into account is that Warsaw comes in at least third.
“I think it’s played correctly because you load the bases, you get one out – the infield is completely designed so you’re not in a contact situation there, right? You have to freeze at least one line drive. And if you really look at this video, Kirk is in the right spot, he’s basically a foot away, like IKF because Warley Maho explained.” He touches the ball. So I will say one thing that we missed — and I’m saying it myself, (John Schneider) — is that Warsaw doesn’t line up at third base. He didn’t hit a line drive on that side of the field, really. And so you can get a little more. But if it was right-handed batting, maybe the IKF should be right there.”
Although time seems to freeze for Hollywood-worthy moments like this, for players on the field and managers in the dugout, there aren’t enough seconds to make the right decision. And unfortunately, hindsight is 20-20.
