Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Domonic Brown's Lack of Hustle

Domonic Brown was roundly criticized by announcers Tom McCarthy and Gary Matthews for not running out a ground ball to second base which turned out to be misplayed by the infielder. Brown probably would have been safe had he busted it down the line. Manager Manuel is supposed to have expressed his own displeasure to the young outfielder, as did the fans.

McCarthy and Matthews sermonized at some length about a player's obligation to go all out at all times. But interestingly, after concluding that Brown had indeed learned his lesson, Domonic hit another routine ground ball late in the same game and again loafed down the first base line and there was no mention of it. This time, the second baseman handled it cleanly so apparently it was not worth noting.

More interestingly, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard, and some others, have made a career of not running out ground balls. Rollins frequently fails to even make it all the way to the first base bag. And yet it's almost never newsworthy. Rollins and Howard are probably heroes to Brown so can he be blamed for emulating them?