Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Jack confesses: it was dumb

Good partisan that I am, I was inclined to think that maybe Jack's baserunning wasn't quite as stupid as it first looked. After all, he did score and win the game.

Jack confesses, however. Here's the story.

With one out and the score tied at 1-1, Wilson drove a pitch from Julian Tavarez (2-1) into the left-field corner for an apparent double. However, Wilson kept going to third when he saw second base uncovered and mistakenly thought first baseman Albert Pujols was not trailing the play.

Pujols, though, was backing up, took the throw into the infield from left fielder Ray Lankford and threw to third base for what appeared to be an easy out. However, Pujols' throw sailed past third baseman Scott Rolen and into the tunnel leading from the Pirates' dugout to clubhouse, allowing Wilson to trot home with the winning run on the error.

"I've made some dumb plays in my time but trying to go to third base was my dumbest," Wilson said. "As soon as I took off and saw Rolen standing there ready to catch the throw I just kept thinking this is going to be all over ESPN and Fox Sports Net and how the headlines in all the newspapers was going to be 'Wilson's Blunder Costs Pirates Game.'

That is John Perrotto's fine reporting. For those of you who thought the local media would play this up as hustle and flash, check out Joe Rutter's story and Paul Meyer's report. (Looks like Meyer is back from vacation. Send in your rants for his Q&A.)

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