I was on sabbatical when Fernando Martinez failed to run out the pop-fly in front of home plate two weeks ago. I wasn’t going to blast him over it, but it would be something to bring up and hopefully Jerry Manuel talked to the kid about it.
Promising it would never happen again, F-Mart got a pass.
Well guess what? It happened again. I’ll leave it to Joe Janish of Mets Today to lay it out:
While we’re on the subject of running and not running, in the top of the seventh, Fernando Martinez attempted a sacrifice that rolled foul. Ironically, Ron Villone — the pitcher last week when F-Mart chose not to run on an infield popup — was again the pitcher. Catcher Josh Bard alertly allowed the ball to roll, in case it spun into fair territory (it was only about a foot, maybe less, from the baseline), because Martinez never left the batter’s box. I’m not picking on F-Mart here — I can’t, not when the “leader” is making assumptions on long fly balls, and not when his manager doesn’t make hustling a priority. Rather, I’m pointing out that this team continues to run hard only when they feel like it, rather than all the time. And also pointing out that, despite all the “he’ll never do THAT again!” rants, Martinez DID do it again, only this time the ball remained foul and wasn’t nearly as glaring a gaffe as last week’s popup. And why did he do it again? Because he wasn’t disciplined the first time. Again — it’s not F-Mart’s fault, but rather the fault of Mets management and the lazy, loser approach to the game that they’ve cultivated.
Another rookie mistake? Hmmm…
I think the Mets will retain F-Mart when Ryan Church returns and give the young player a majority of time in the outfield. Gary Sheffield and Church will split time in the opposite outfield corner.
Again, I really hope someone spoke to Martinez about this. It’s one of the most basic fundamentals to any sport, not just baseball.
“Run first, ask questions later.”