Jayson Werth, who rode my fantasy bench all week to make room for my awesome outfield -- who did nothing but suck on Tuesday, I might add -- stole bags yesterday like Dane Cook steals jokes.
The Philadelphia Phillies outfielder's first steal of the night against the Los Angeles Dodgers came in the form of a double steal between him and Ryan Howard, with Werth snagging third in the fourth inning. He ended up scoring on a Jimmy Rollins single, so good job there.
Let me walk you through the rest of these shenanigans. It's the seventh inning, and Werth singles on a liner to left. Then, he takes the five-finger discount on second base, again with Rollins at the plate. Left-hander Will Ohman then ends up walking J-Roll intentionally anyhow, which obviously irritates Werth. With Raul Ibanez batting, another double steal goes down to open up first base (steal #3 on the day for the sneaky guy, yay math) ...and another walk.
So the baggies are juiced and Ohman is flipping out. Dodgers manager Joe Torre realizes this, and replaces him with heavy-duty righty Ronald Belisario to face Pedro Feliz. And what does Werth do? He has the balls to swipe home for his fourth steal of the game and seventh of the year.
And Belisario has the balls to walk Feliz.
Werth's last three steals were exciting and exhilarating, but it's pretty funny (to me) that he worked so damn hard to get them, when he just have have been awarded the bases anyway on all three occasions, thanks to some terrible pitching.
In any case, Werth ties a Phillies record set twice by Sherry Magee (awesome old-timey baseball name) in 1906, and another time by Garry Maddox in 1978. Pete Rose was the last one to come close, stealing three bases in one inning in 1980, an MLB record.
"I guess he was feeling frisky..." said skipper Charlie Manuel.Can we start calling him "Frisky" please?
Here's the video evidence of Werth's out-of-the-blue kleptomania.
-100 points for having to mention Pete Rose's name two posts in a row.
[NBC Sports] | [Phillies Nation] | [The 700 Level]
13 comments:
I'd like to ride your fantasy bench. Wait, what? Jayson Werth is awesome.
Dane Cook steal jokes? What world are you living in? He's a model citizen & a scholar!
That is funny he got all frisky and stole those last three bases for no reason.
He may have been awarded those bases eventually, but ya never know. Maybe all those steals in the seventh riled up Ohman and Belisario enough to make them pitch like crap, and in turn walk everyone they faced!
Stealing home is so 2009.
Yeah, he stole home. But with home values being what they are today, it really only counts as about half of what it would have been three years ago.
Nice post - made Yahoo's top story too!! Well done indeed.
Jayson Werth is the man. Who needs Ellsbury wheels when you have sneaky quicks? THAT'S how you steal home plate!
Werth stealing those bases could have frustrated the pitchers and caused them to walk the batters... you don't know what would have happened if he didn't steal. I definitely don't think he stole those last three bases for no reason.
Stealing home is the most exciting play in baseball....takes guts to even try it!!!
Since he used to play for the Dodgers...maybe he was trying to be a wisea$$ and show them what they missed when they let him go?
You can't say he would have gotten them anyway. They intentionally walked Rollins when 1st was open. If Werth hadn't stolen 2nd, would they have walked Rollins? Not intentionally.
"Since he used to play for the Dodgers...maybe he was trying to be a wisea$$ and show them what they missed when they let him go?"
I think he took care of that last year when the Phillies denied the Dodgers the pennant then went on to win the World Series.
"I think he took care of that last year when the Phillies denied the Dodgers the pennant then went on to win the World Series."
Touche.
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