The Giants won with Defensive Indifference

You didn’t think it would be an easy win for the Giants did you?
OF COURSE the Giants had to blow the 9th inning, come back in the bottom of the 9th and have an extra inning marathon.

But the game also shows why “Defensive Indifference” is such a crock and should be eliminated.

I talked about it in a Sully Baseball video (linked below). In that video I came up with a hypothetical situation where “defensive indifference” would come back to haunt a team.

No need for hypothetical situations. It happened today at AT&T Park.

In the bottom of the 12th, Nate Schierholtz went from first to third on an error by Albert Pujols. He represented the winning run with two outs in the 12th. With Brian Tallet concentrating on the hitter Freddy Sanchez, Andres Torres went from first to second. There was no throw.

Clearly there shouldn’t have been a throw because a muffed throw would have ended the game. Torres was not credited with a stolen base. It was called “Defensive Indifference.”

But as Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper pointed out, Torres taking second base was NOT inconsequential. It eliminated the inning ending, game extending force at second base. And it made Tony LaRussa overmanage (SURPRISE!) They intentionally walked Freddy Sanchez to face the red hot Aaron Rowand.

Now the bases were loaded. A walk or a hit batsman would win the game for the Giants. That would NOT have been the scenario had Torres not taken second.

Rowand hit a deep fly off of the wall to drive home Schierholtz to win the game for the Giants.

So the Cardinals should NOT have been indifferent.

So Torres running from first to second that helped set up the game winning hit isn’t counted as a stolen base.

But the intentional walk that brought Rowand up still counts as a walk.

It makes no sense.

Never did.

Never will.

Torres should have been credited with a stolen base.

Period. End of sentence.

Enjoy the video.