The Maddon Touch

Sunday was an oddity in the world of sports. Two game 7s were played in the NBA one of which the Boston Celtics blew a 3-2 series lead to the Orlando Magic for the first time in their franchise's history, and Rafael Nadal lost on clay in his home country of Spain to Roger Federer. Finally RHP Andy Sonnanstine batted third in the Tampa Bay Rays lineup due to a lineup card miscue by Joe Maddon and Dave Martinez, the bench coach. As the adage goes to err is human, and when last I checked Joe Maddon is a human. You may be saying but wait the Rays are in the AL and the Designated Hitter hits in place of the pitcher. Yes these are both correct. Unless the manager does not field anyone in the DH spot. Normally Evan Longoria plays third base and Maddon decided to give him a half day off by DHing him. However Maddon listed both Evan Longoria and Ben Zobrist in the third base position. When only Zobrist was fielded, opposing manager Eric Wedge brought the miscue to the umpire's attention. What this meant is that no DH was in the lineup and the pitcher would have to hit and Evan Longoria was no longer available. 

First let us give credit to manager Eric Wedge of the Cleveland Indians. Instead of immediately pointing out that two players were listed as third basemen he decided to wait and see which player would be fielding that day. Had he immediately reported the discrepancy, the Rays would have been able to field Longoria and thus keep the Major League leader in RBIs in the lineup. This was not the case and a strong strategic move was made by Wedge. Although Wedge pushed all the right buttons he forgot one little thing: Joe Maddon apparently can not press the wrong ones. Originally I was going to blast Joe Maddon for flubbing up like this but then I stopped to think about what actually happened here. My concerns revolved mainly around the lax attitude that the players and coaches took to putting Sonnanstine up there to bat. Now I know pitchers do it all the time in the NL but there is always some risk, as with any player, that the pitcher will get hurt in any number of ways either in the batters box or running the bases. Again I, like Wedge, did not consider the Maddon Touch. Not only did Sonnanstine not get hurt but he hit a RBI double. How often does a manager substitute the league leader in RBIs for a pitcher and the pitcher gets an RBI double. Never because it would only happen if you are Joe Maddon. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. But what happens when your good at being lucky? Answer you are Joe Maddon.