KC Royals: Alex Gordon Should Have Been Sent Home

Kansas City Royals left fielder Alex Gordon (4) – Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

When the left-fielder, Juan Perez, finally got to the fence to retrieve the ball, he booted it another 8-10 feet away from him (toward left field). This is about the time I nearly passed out from vertigo from jumping out of my recliner so fast, and did my best to make sure third base coach, Mike Jirschele, could hear me yelling “Send him!” from my KCK residence.

We were no longer worried about whether there would be a play at third base. The only question now was whether Gordon was going to get the green light to round third, and head for home.

For those familiar with the fundamentals of baseball, you know these are the times the middle-infielders have to go out into the shallow outfield area, and cut-off a throw from the outfielder, with the idea of relaying the ball to whatever base the runner is pursuing. Right now, if any of my college teammates, or coaches for that matter, are reading this, they’re no doubt shocked that I know what a cut-off man is.

In this instance, Brandon Crawford had to go about 30 feet into the outfield grass to receive the throw from Perez. Mind you, Crawford is a very good defensive shortstop, but a throw home from that distance, with the need to be very accurate would be a tough play for even the best shortstop.

To add a degree of difficulty, the throw from Perez short-hopped Crawford. Even though he fielded the hop cleanly, that adds another degree of difficulty to the play.

Spoiler Alert: Coach Jirschele didn’t send Gordon.

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