What hole am I digging myself into here? The hole that says "The Backhand Throw Where the Thrower Doesn't Even Look Where He is Throwing Shouldn't Be an Everyday Play?" If that is the whole I am digging myself into, give me a shovel.
You can revise your analysis as much as you want. It still does not hide the fact that it is a completed play by mere luck and it isn't ever going to taught on a day by day basis in the minors. Regardless of where the ball goes, at the feet of the catcher or into the outfield, trying a play like that on a consistent basis is only going to lead to more errors and more men on base. Its a cowboy play that looks great on television and when it works but it has no place in the everyday game.
You CAN'T teach that play, it takes a certain amount of inate coordination and creativity which MLB players like Belliard have.
And you know what, if that ball falls at felipe's feet IT'S NOT EVEN AN ERROR. Its first and second just like if Belliard didnt try to do anything.
So Derek Jeter should never have made that play in Oakland in the playoffs a couple of years ago because he could have thrown the ball over Posada's head and then everybody else could have kept running around the bases?
I hope you never coach my kids little league team
