I am really bothered by that mental error Kinsler made last night (to review, Texas was down by 1 in the 9th inning. Kinsler led off with a double, and then when Michael Young hit a screamer to right-centerfield, Kinsler initially stayed on the base to tag up, but then started running when he thought the ball would drop in. It was caught, Kinsler didn't advance to third on the fly out, and the Rangers never scored the tying run).

I like Kinsler, so I'm going to try to harp more on the mental error than the player himself. But is it significant that he made such an obvious error in judgement? If he tags up, and the ball does drop, the worst case scenario is runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Best case, the ball bounces off the wall and Kinsler has time to score anyway. So why did he not tag up?

Should the Rangers coaches shoulder some of the blame? I wasn't at spring training, so I don't know how much time they spent reviewing fly ball, tag-up situations (if any). And at this point of a professional baseball player's career, he should know when to tag up anyway. I think what probably happened was Kinsler simply got caught up in the moment. He had just gotten a huge double to begin the 9th inning, so he was probably a lot more amped up than he would have been earlier in the game. Take that into account, plus the fact that NO ONE thought Markakis would catch that ball. Those are reasons why I think Kinsler left second base too soon - not good enough reasons, but that's what I think happened.

Hopefully this was just an isolated incident, and not a sign of a larger institutional problem -- that this team might be more likely to make mental errors than they should.

3 Comments

Mike said:

I can't believe the Rangers broadcast crew didn't make a bigger deal out of this. I like Tom doing the games but sometimes he needs to be a little harder on the Rangers.

I was pretty upset when Kinsler didn't make it to 3rd. Those are the type of plays that caused the Rangers to get off to such a bad start last year.

Of course, Kinsler's mistake did help me forget about how awful Padilla was.

April 14, 2009 2:56 PM

Jack Brown said:

Are these players "professionals" or not? Even a little leaguer knows to be ready to tag up & go to the next base, especially when you team is close on the score. Don't be running around like a chicken with it's head cut off! Remember the basics of the game. These guys have been playing for a number of years & have been outstanding players, or they wouldn't be in the bigs. They have to erase those "mental errors" which sound like mental lapses. Remember the coach telling the players "Keep your head in the game!" Still applies.

April 14, 2009 3:43 PM

CorDarei said:

It doesn't matter if he tagged up or not... the fact that the Ranger's did nothing beyond the double to advance runners would have prevented him from going beyond 3rd base even if he DID tag... of course... if he did tag, a suicide could have been put in play... but that's all speculation.

April 14, 2009 3:55 PM

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