Rumor Roundup: Tuesday... (11/20)
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November 20, 2012 BP UnfilteredDoing the Splits in the Land Before GIFsGood friend Bill Hanstock was watching old baseball highlights on YouTube this morning, just like he imagined when he graduated from college, and alerted us to this spectacular tag avoidance from the year 2009, a year most notable for being the year before every single act of human motion was instantly converted into a GIF. (Here is a GIF of a man sleeping.) Watch this baseball player avoid this tag, and then keep reading to find out the awesome twist in the story:
Cool stuff, guy. Way to do the splits to avoid that tag. What a nimble act. So who is this physical genius? Why, it's certified Fat Joke Pablo Sandoval!
The play in question came from this game, in which James Loney batted sixth and Matt Kemp batted seventh. The video clip in question came from this YouTube video, which is especially cool if you're a Giants fan because every single play ends with the Giants holding a World Series parade this season. And the alert came from SBN's Bill Hanstock, friend.
Sam Miller is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @SamMillerBB
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I don't understand why Juan Castro even went for the tag. The ball is not in his glove.
This is what I thought too. I'm not even sure he was going to go for the tag *until* Sandoval started into the splits. The splits alerted Castro's attention to the existence of the baserunner.
It is a very strange moment for Castro. I give him loads of credit, though, for *acting* like the ball was in his mitt the whole time, as he reaches in as though he needs to take the ball out after the "tag". It's sort of brilliant, if totally unsuccessful.
That's a fair point. Umpires have been fooled by less.