1. But why did it work out? That was the pivotal question here: Where did the Phillies screw this up, other than their decision to use The Shift in this spot in the first place?
"To be honest," Lidge said, "that's not really something you go over a lot. I don't know who's supposed to cover third on that. Just kind of a weird play."
The normal way this works, actually, is that it's the pitcher's job to scramble over there. But Lidge was so locked in on pitching to Teixeira, he admitted later he forgot all about that shift. So when Damon took off for third, it "really surprised me," Lidge said. "I thought we had him. I didn't realize there was nobody at third base."
Oh, there was nobody at third base, all right. And no one on the field was more aware of that than, well, the third baseman.
"I know nobody was on third because I was shifted to the other side," Feliz said. "I got the runner (i.e., he was responsible for covering a steal at second), and went to the bag and he saw nobody covered third and he took off. It's a tough stuation. You have to go to [second] and J-Roll has to back me up. So nobody is on the other side, and he took off.''
"I'm the captain of the infield. It's my job. ? I didn't signal to Brad to make sure he gets to third on a throw. All you've got to do is take two steps in that direction and you stop it right there. But I didn't do my part in making sure he knew the defense we were in.? -- Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins
But this wasn't Feliz's fault, either. It was Rollins' responsibility to decide who would cover second on a steal. So it was the shortstop who blamed himself afterward for not making sure everybody knew their assignment.
"I'm the captain of the infield," Rollins said. "It's my job. ? I didn't signal to Brad to make sure he gets to third on a throw. All you've got to do is take two steps in that direction and you stop it right there. But I didn't do my part in making sure he knew the defense we were in."
So it was all these forces, all these decisions, all these miscommunications and one brilliant stroke of genius by Johnny Damon that managed to converge at this remarkable point in time. And the result was a play we'll be rehashing for a millennium.
"It is unusual. That's for sure," Lidge said. "You kind of wonder how that happens -- or, I guess -- how it doesn't happen more often, with The Shift on. Hopefully, we'll figure out a way to prevent that from happening again."
