The Rays lost 8-6 to the Red Sox on Wednesday afternoon. It was a loss that once again saw the Rays struggle with the fundamentals, something that has plagued this team all season.
The latest came in the fourth inning with the Rays already leading 4-1. Kevin Kiermaier singled up the middle to seemingly increase the lead to 5-1. Kiermaier tried to move up to second base on the throw home, however, the Red Sox faked a throw home and got Kiermaier at second base.
But before that happened, Tim Beckham, who was on second base, slowed up about halfway to home. As a result, Beckham did not touch home before Kiermaier was thrown out and the run did not score. You can see Beckham slow down here and as Kiermaier is thrown out, you can here the home plate umpire immediately yell, “NO! NO! NO!,” signalling that Beckham did not score.
It is worth noting here that there is little wrong with what Kiermaier did. With two outs you typically want to be more aggressive trying to get to second base. That is a chance you want Kiermaier to take. In this case, the Red Sox just made a good play, knowing that Kiermaier is often aggressive.
Here is the replay where you can see the play at the plate.
Interestingly, Evan Longoria seemed to know it was going to be close. He immediately reacts and turns to the dugout. It is unclear if he is upset or telling Kevin Cash to challenge. However, the former seems more likely as he turns before the home plate ump makes his call.
Red Sox commentator Jerry Remy had the harshest criticism for Beckham’s lack of hustle.
“There is no excuse for this,” Remy said. “This is just bad baseball by Beckham. He’s taking for granted that the inning is going to be continued … That’s an embarrassing moment right there, inexcusable really for Beckham. You run hard all the time. That’s the only thing you can do in this game is put the effort into it.”
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11 Comments
The 2017 team doesn't need any slackers.
Save the money. Dump him like a can of putrified salmon. He's certainly not going to win the Heart & Hustle award this year or next or ever.
On the other hand, I think that Beckham would make a fine Chipotle quality control guy.
I see that being sent to the Bulls is now a punishment. Says a lot about the current Rays regime. Why not bench Beckham or release him? Bulls only have 5 games left and hurricane Hermine is likely to make it even fewer. And why not at least DFA him so someone else can go on 40-man. And Sandberg is supposed to motivate him? The leader of the worst team in Durham Bulls history?
Incredibly stupid play but I have problem putting the blame on him in a 2 run loss that included the starter grooving a grand slam pitch. Both situations could be made better by a real manager. This team has poor fundamentals and a manager that is continually clueless about when his starter is gassed. It's not about pitch counts or innings, it's about watching how the guy is doing.
Cash threw KK under the bus in the post game interview for trying for second. In fact he spent more time talking about KK's hustle than Beckham's lack thereof. Priceless...no pun intended.
I got upset over the same thing. He put the entire blame on KK and only brought up Beckham after reporters asked why not talk about Tim's mistake. I guess he could have put Souza in the game and then pulled him for punishment. That way it would not have embarrassed poor Timmy, and hey, Souza can take it.
Beckham definitely is at fault here, but so is KK, maybe more so. KK was thrown out by Betts at third last week, so why was he testing him again? Beckham probably thought he would score easily because he never imagined KK would do something that dumb. I am a huge fam of KK, but fair is fair and I call em like I see em. I hope Beckham can shake this off because he seemed to be turning a corner at the plate.
So the you love KK's hustle except when he's out on bang bang plays. It took perfect throws to nail him and yesterday it was the cut off man not Betts that made the toss. Lord, you probably think the Price trade was a steal for the Rays.
You hope Beckham can shake off a demotion that should have come last week. Turning what around? In 8, I repeat 8, seasons with this organization he has batted no higher than .275, never hit more than 12 HR's and never committed less than 20 errors when he's logged over 100 games a season. He was suspended for pot. He gets picked off regularly, has no clue in the field.....oh yeah and we picked him over Posey. Your kinda guy eh Rob?
Beckham gets the blame for a brain cramp at home plate deservingly so but at the same time Kiermaier gets as much of the blame trying to be a hero by trying to make everything look spectacular esp Mookie Betts has a terrific arm at RF and teams are starting to figured out Kevin's moves. Kiermaier should have stayed at first to keep the rally going then he can steal 2nd if he wanted to. Both players had base running gaffes made on one play (mental and other getting too aggressive).
Note: It happened yesterday with the Columbus Clippers player Zimmer pulled a Beckham at home plate while Durham RF Jaff Decker threw out a baserunner trying to stretch a base hit into a double.
As long as someone is wearing a Rays uniform, I want them to do well. I may not particularly be a fan of an individual player, but as long as he is a Ray I do not want to see him perform poorly.
Beckham had started to pick his game up at the plate, and that is probably what Rob is referring to as to his "shaking it off." Rather than regressing, we should hope he will improve at the plate.
Ken points to a very poor resume for Beckham. It seems like there are some guys with obviously great potential who seem to think they can rest on their laurels, so to speak. I am thinking of Beckham, Jennings and BJ (sorry, I mean Melvin). They arrive with great fanfare due to their superior potential, but don't produce, and their numbers start going down and down. BJ has made a lot of money being a lousy baseball player.