Do You Send Gordon?

Amazing game last night with a genuinely epic performance from the World Series MVP and intense suspense literally down to the last out. Bravo to both the Giants and Royals.

As the penultimate play was unfolding, I was screaming "Send him! Send him!" After I saw the replay I wasn't so sure, but in hindsight, pondering all the intangibles, I'm back to my initial knee-jerk reaction: Gordon should've tried to go all the way. The Giants had already made two misplays on his single, the whiff of mischief from the baseball godz was already in the air. Plus the second Perez flailed at that high fastball, you could see he was both overmatched and outsmarted and it was game over even before the pop out. Plus that new catcher protection rule could've meant if Posey blocked the plate, Gordon automatically gets the run, or her could've avoided the swipe tage. Royals 3B coach shoulda sent him. Even if he was out, it would've been one of the greatest final plays in World Series history.

What's everybody else think?

tws

Nate Silver had a nice write-up suggesting that based on all the likely results to follow-up holding him at third, the statistical nod goes to sending him, even if it was a one in five type chance.

Intangibles:

1. What if Gordon left the box like he knew he'd be running for an in-the-park homer? For all you young players out there...
2. No way the third base coach lives with that decision for the rest of his life, statistics be damned.
3. Hindsight is 20/20...send him!

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

Run hard from the get-go and run for home.

Got to send him.

It is very easy to judge when we now know how the game will turn out if you don't send him. If the third base coach sent him and he was toast at the plate he would be grilled for not holding him to give the next hitter a chance to bring him in.

It is very easy to judge when we now know how the game will turn out if you don't send him. If the third base coach sent him and he was toast at the plate he would be grilled for not holding him to give the next hitter a chance to bring him in.

I agree with LMBombers. When I was watching the play unfold, and especially when I saw the ball kicked around a bit at the wall, I thought Gordon would have an excellent chance to score and was surprised when they held him up. But when I saw the replay from the overhead shot they showed, there is virtually no way. Yes, Crawford could have made a bad throw ... but did he make one the entire Series? With 20/20 hindsight, yeah, send him. But in reality, he likely would have been out by 10 or 15 feet and the third-base coach would have been a goat for the ages.

As I Giants fan since they were the NY Giants that play was horrifying as it unfolded when Perez did whatever, here's a great analysis IMHO.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/send-alex-gordon/


JT

Of course there's no way to show that it's not hindsight, but at the time I thought send him and still do. This was KC's first real chance to get past the shutdown Bumgarner had laid on them the entire series. I didn't, and still don't, think it's reasonable to expect two hitters in a row to get anything off the guy.

totally agree with you, if I was a Royal's fan I would be bummed, I think... say Perez singles instead against a tired Bumg. it's a "brilliant" move / decision... what makes BB great