You won’t get any disagreement from me on tonight’s play- boneheaded. It was not a reaction play, he just drifted way too far.

On the same issue, PeteAbe, live blogging writes:

“UPDATE, 7:53 p.m.: Nick Swisher … wow. Doubled off again on a ball right in front of him. How does that happen two days in a row? He either needs more Red Bull or less, it’s not clear.”

It happens when you’re a bonehead, if you ask me.

7:53 pm ET, 2nd inning of Game 3 of this Boston series, and Nick Swisher gets doubled off base again – and, when it happened, Michael Kay called it a “bonehead play.”

Thank you Michael. Somebody gets it.

Just to clarify, Steve. I think his getting caught napping at 3rd=boneheadedness. I think the stuff from last night= bad outcomes.

Steve Lombardi wrote:

yagottagotomo1 wrote:

He short-armed it, and it happens to gritty, “focused” players all the time.

Name the last ten Yankees to short-arm a ball in the outfield the way Swisher did. Heck, name the last two. Happens all the time, really? I don’t think so…

Wow, you just took the most irrelevant portion of my statement and amplified it. How about this- Derek Jeter, when going up the middle, misses a lot of balls due to short-arming them. But that ignores my point- he made a fielding miscue, and it is your dislike for the player that is interpreting it as an egregious mental error.

yagottagotomo1 wrote:

He short-armed it, and it happens to gritty, “focused” players all the time.

Name the last ten Yankees to short-arm a ball in the outfield the way Swisher did. Heck, name the last two. Happens all the time, really? I don’t think so…

Steve Lombardi wrote:

You don’t need “baseball instincts” to know “Hey, if I don’t move my glove two inches higher, I’m not going to catch this ball” or “Hey, if the ball is hit right at an infielder on a line, I better get back to my base quickly.”

Totally disagree. He read the line drive poorly off the bat, thinking it would go further than it did. He didn’t absentmindedly stray off the base, his instincts about where the ball was headed were off. In regard to the other ball, he should have caught it and just missed it. I still have no idea why that is a mental error? Are all fielding errors mental errors? He short-armed it, and it happens to gritty, “focused” players all the time.

yagottagotomo1 wrote:

You keep saying this, but you have yet to explain why you think the latter can be prevented. Sometimes, a player just is not instinctive, and there is not anything you, or he, can do about it.

Baseball instincts allow you to know when to go first to third without the help of a coach, or to know when you should slide head-first or feet first, or to know whether or not to take a pitch or two after a pitcher has just thrown 8 straight balls to the two batters before you.

You don’t need “baseball instincts” to know “Hey, if I don’t move my glove two inches higher, I’m not going to catch this ball” or “Hey, if the ball is hit right at an infielder on a line, I better get back to my base quickly.”

You can prevent a ball going two inches over your glove or being caught off base for a DP on a liner by paying attention to what’s happening in the game instead of sleep walking your way through a play.

That’s the prevention method: Get your head out of your ass, stop day dreaming, and don’t half-ass something or take it for granted that you’re going to be fine in that half-ass mode.

Steve Lombardi wrote:

However, the latter can be prevented and therefore, in my opinion, carry heavy fault when they happen.

You keep saying this, but you have yet to explain why you think the latter can be prevented. Sometimes, a player just is not instinctive, and there is not anything you, or he, can do about it.

i think there are a lot of fair points here, steve. but i think as always it becomes tough for you to make these fair, rational points on certain players because of the nonrational vibes you emit towards those same players, whether intentional or not. for whatever reason, it seems like you have had it out for swisher from the start, and are quick to point out any failure and equally quick to ignore or twist positive performance in a way that portrays it as less meaningful. it clouds and taints the fair, rational points that you make because it seems like you are coming from a negative angle that you may not be coming from.