Sliding Into Home

Last night the Red Sox beat the Royals 7-6 when in the 9th inning Manny Ramirez scored from first base on a Jason Varitek double. Manny just beat the throw and the tag at home and many post game commentators focused on the fact that Manny did not slide into home. This bothered me.

Whenever you see a player slide into first (usually headfirst) - the commentator always mentions the fact that it has been proven that sliding into first is not faster that running through the base. In fact - the opposite is true - sliding actually slows you down.

So if Manny slid last night - maybe he doesn't beat the tag.

There is a time to slide - like to get under a high throw, to try and knock the ball from the catcher or maybe a hook-slide to avoid a tag. Last night - a slide was not needed - not sliding was actually the right play.

You have to remember that Manny missed a bunch of games in 2002 because he slid head first into home and injured his fingers. He caught hell from some people for that and now some of the same folks are unhappy when he doesn't slide? Manny just can't win with some folks.