Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?

I take back everything bad I've ever said about Carlos Beltran. Not really. 

I've often argued that the reason Carlos has the greatest stolen base percentage of all time is that he never steals a meaningful base. In fact, I'll go one step further. The reason Carlos has such a great career stolen base percentage is that he attempts steals in situations where it's actually a bad baseball play. 

Well, Carlos stole a big, big base tonight, allowing the Mets to tie the game with a productive out supplied by Luis Castillo. The Mets came back to win a game they trailed by three runs heading into the 8th, and by a single run heading into the 9th. These kinds of wins have got to mean a little more to a team. Snatching victory from the clutches of defeat, beating a team's closer. 

Beltran led off the 9th with a double off Mike Gonzalez, especially impressive after falling behind in the count. Beltran has been fantastic with the bat all season (in his quiet, pious sort of way). For the second time in the early season, David Wright found himself in a position, in the 9th, facing the opposing team's closer, to move a runner on second, representing the tying run, to 3rd with less than two outs. Both times I've screamed at my wife for the lovable slugger to sacrifice the runner over to third with a bunt, knowing full well that that's not how we play the game in the United States.

Let me back this truck up a bit. I got into a sizable argument with my father during the World Baseball Classic. We were both watching the semifinal game between the U.S. and Japan when he called me up, and told me that all his life he had viewed the World Series Champion as the best team in baseball, but now, after watching Japan and Korea, he wasn't so sure. I, of course, argued that the Americans weren't in mid-season form, that Venezuela was playing without Johan Santana, that Japan had four Major League Players in their starting lineup, but he wasn't having it. We were sort of having two different conversations, but that's neither here nor there. 

There were a couple of things about what I saw in the World Baseball Classic that I found very significant, and both of them relate to the Mets' decision not to bunt with David Wright.

When you watch the team from Japan, for example, the best hitters know how to bunt. Even the cleanup hitter that might be known for hitting home runs most of time, knows how to bunt if the situation calls for it. If an American born player has been a stud on every team he's ever played for, the chances are good that he simply doesn't know how to do it.  

The other thing I noticed about Japan and Korea is that they don't strike out. Not like we do.

When the Mets faced the Marlins at home last week, Wright was facing Matt Lindstrom. Obviously, David Wright is an above-average hitter, and many would argue that he should be able to swing the bat and, at the very least, advance the runner to third with less than 2 outs. However, at the time, David Wright was leading the league in strikeouts. In an incredibly similar situation tonight, David ranked third in the league in strikeouts, and in both cases faced a strikeout pitcher. 

Last week, I loved the bunt partly because, since there were runners on 1st and 2nd, and assuming all of these overpaid, overfed Americans are hustling, the bunt takes away the chance of the double play. Tonight I loved the bunt because there was no force at third. A bunt has to be pretty lousy for a tag to be slapped on the speedy Beltran. Of course, I knew in both cases he wasn't bunting, and in both cases our best hitter didn't advance the runner to the next base. 

Now, I don't know what the deal is with the best hitters in the game striking out 125 times a year, but there's something wrong with it. When my father and I have the quintessential generational argument about progress vs...whatever he's arguing for, he often sites Joe DiMaggio's strikeout totals.

Take a look at Joe D's lifetime numbers: 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dimagjo01.shtml

Notice how those 39 strikeouts his rookie year were the most he ever racked up. Why is it that great hitters in today's game have to strikeout 125 times a year? They don't shorten up, I guess is the answer, but why don't they shorten up? Are they more concerned with stats, with launching the occasional long ball? That's what it looked like when we played in that Classic. A lot of guys with long swings.

In the W. B. C., I saw a lot of at bats where Japanese batters flicked balls into the outfield with two strikes. You might call such a Texas Leaguer lucky, but there's no shot at a Texas Leaguer if you don't make contact. That's one of the reasons why all of the best pitchers are the pitchers that strikeout so many batters. When they get into a tough spot, they don't allow poor contact to beat them. Because after all, a hitter battling, a hitter flaring something out into no man's land may not be pretty, but it's beautiful baseball.