Les Levine: Chris Perez needs lesson in baseball etiquette

After Friday night's 9-3 loss to the American League Central front-running Twins, the Indians finished April with a record of 9-13.

Somewhere Eric Wedge is smiling.

No matter what Manager Manny Acta and his staff did in spring training to get the Tribe in position for a good start, it didn't work.

But Wedge wouldn't be smiling if he still was the manager of this team and the Angels' Howie Kendrick did what he did Wednesday night in Anaheim.

Kendrick laid down a bunt single on the first pitch he saw from Indians closer Chris Perez for a walkoff 4-3 win, with what has mistakenly called a suicide squeeze. A suicide squeeze occurs when the bunt takes place as the runner from third is heading home with fewer than two outs. No matter what happened with the baserunner, it wouldn't have mattered if the Indians could have thrown out Kendrick at first base.

Remember Wedge's reaction when Omar Vizquel laid down a suicide squeeze as a member of the Rangers? He all but called out the manhood of Vizquel for having the audacity to do such a thing.

Acta responded the way he should have responded, by saying Kendrick made an excellent play. Somehow, Perez didn't get the message.

Perez, who previously threw his catcher, Lou Marson, under the bus for not blocking some wild pitches earlier in the season, had an interesting observation about Kendrick.

"It was a stupid play that just happened to work," he said. "It caught us off-guard, but it wasn't a smart baseball play. What percentage of the time is he going to take a first pitch from a pitcher he hasn't seen and put it where he did?"

Chris, maybe someone should mention some of the finer points of the game to you. Those are the exact reasons Kendrick did it.

The infield was playing back and was caught off guard. He also knew you would be falling off the mound on your delivery. Here's some news for you, based on your theory of never facing him before. Under the circumstances, he had a better chance to succeed laying down a bunt than he would have had trying to get a regular base hit to end the game. A .300 hitter still fails seven out of 10 times.

On the other hand, Kendrick could have taken a couple of pitches from Perez. After all, a walkoff wild pitch is an easier way to bring in the winning run.

What shouldn't be overlooked is the Russell Branyan at-bat earlier in the game, with one out and the bases loaded, with the Tribe trying to extend a 3-0 lead.

Branyan couldn't get his bat on the ball and struck out for the second out of the inning, and the Indians were not able to score. In the bottom of the inning, Torii Hunter smashed a three-run home run to tie the game, setting up the bottom of the ninth when Kendrick executed anything but "a stupid play."



(news-herald.com)