Bartolo Colon legs out infield dribbler thanks to rare Yadier Molina error
For all the talk about a universal designated hitter, perhaps the greatest argument against its seemingly inevitable implementation into MLB revolves around the existence of New York Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon.
As we’ve noted in the past, Colon’s plate appearances aren’t just the throw away moments you may come to expect with pitchers, they are events that unite baseball fans from all points of the world, regardless of where their loyalties lie.
There’s always an element of drama in Colon’s at-bats, from whether he’ll actually make contact, to whether his helmet will stay on or fall off, to the ultimate hope, that he’ll put a ball in play and have to run the bases. On Wednesday, we actually got the latter when Colon hit the weakest of all possible dribblers in front on home plate, and somehow managed to leg it out.
The play was originally ruled an infield single, which was quite alright by us. However, as you can plainly see in the video, there was a clear mishandle by perennial Gold Glove catcher Yadier Molina which allowed a hustling Colon to reach base for the second time this season. The final ruling resulted in Molina’s third error this season.
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If we were being generous, we might say Colon’s speed created a sense of urgency in Molina’s approach. In fact, among the other headlines we considered for this post were “Speedster Bartolo Colon pressures Yadier Molina into rare error.” But we opted for honesty and credibility while allowing the video itself to provide the entertainment.
Unfortunately for Colon and the Mets, the entertainment ended pretty much right there. The Cardinals knocked him around for nine runs (eight earned) in 4 1/3 innings to hand him his second loss of the season. The loss also knocked the Mets completely out of first place in the NL East for the first time since April 14. They’re now a full game behind the Washington Nationals.
In the loss, Colon also walked his first two batters since opening day, but not before setting a franchise record for control by passing Bret Saberhagen’s mark of 47 2/3 consecutive innings pitched without issuing a walk. Colon’s streak ended at 48 1/3 innings.
When all was said and done, it was a short night for Colon, but one with a little bit of everything, which is why we want him to stick around forever.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
