Do You Send Gordon?

Like BBfan, I'm a long-time Giants fan--although only since 77--and I gasped with horror as Blanco blew the no-doubles prevention play.

I also initially thought the Royals should have sent Gordon for all the reasons mentioned, particularly Bumgarner's continuing (but waning) dominance. However, every replay (from every angle) I''ve seen since shows Gordon not having a substantial, if even workable, lead on the inevitable incoming throw. Yes the odds were against the upcoming batters getting the job done, but they were even more against Gordon being safe at home. And it would have been terrible to see the last out of the series being thrown out at home by a mile.

Obviously, I'm ecstatic over how everything worked out. However, until someone can show me an angle showing Gordon's substantial lead on the throw, or can argue the lead shown was sufficient, I will still think Jirschele made the right call.

Gordon would have been out by at least three strides if he went. In most cases and as mentioned ahead of me, triples are made from home plate to first base, not later than that. Same here; he ran well, but not his hardest.

The only way that he is safe (aside from the obvious mishandling of the throw or catch), is the call of an umpire where Posey is "blocking" the plate.

And as I said earlier:

There is no way Posey was going to block that plate. Sabean, Bochy, and Mrs. Posey would have killed him.

There is no way they were going to send him. Crawford had the ball as Gordon hit third. He was very likely going to be thrown out. No way in hell is the third base coach capable under those unexpected events (which include both Blanco and Perez' misplays) of running an instantaneous, nuanced 538.com-type calculation of value expectation of sending/not sending the runner based on Salvador Perez' likelihood of driving the runner home. His mind/eyes are telling him "he's gonna be out by a mile". It's a silly question (not making fun of the creator of the thread, just sayin...)