Brent Lillibridge. Brent. Stuart. Lillibridge.
Last night at Yankee Stadium, Brent Lillibridge entered his 153rd career game as a pinch runner in the eighth inning (his 58th career appearance as a substitute player). Immediately after, Paul Konerko touched up shaky set-up man Rafael Soriano for a go-ahead 2-run homer run.
In the bottom half of the frame, Brent Lillibridge remained in the game as the right fielder. Lillibridge has patrolled right field a total of seven times prior to last night. Six of those instances occurred this season, including the previous night’s game in the Bronx.
It would appear that Brent Lillibridge is astonishingly adept at the art of adaptation…almost as adroit as the author alleges to be at the act of alliteration. Almost.
With one out and two runners aboard in the bottom of the 9th inning, Sergio Santos replaced Matt Thornton and his untamable fastball. The tying run in Derek Jeter stood on second base and the winning run in Mark Teixeira stood on first. Alex Rodriguez loomed over the batter’s box and dug in.
Rodriguez watched as a slider and two 96-mile-an-hour fastballs whizzed by, working his way into a hitter’s count, 2-1. Then on the fourth pitch, A-Rod lashed out at a thigh-high fastball on the outer edge, shooting a laser beam into deep right field. The ball looked like it was tagged for the Merrill Lynch bull logo plastered on the padded wall. Ozzie Guillen and the White Sox looked like they were about to suffer their league-leading 7th blown save.
Enter Brent Lillibridge, stage left. Makes improbable catch with glove hand outstretched and body parallel to aforementioned corporate icon. Queue collective sigh of disappoint (faint smattering of cheers) from crowd and Alex Rodriguez throwing hands on helmet in disbelief.
The scene was over, but the curtain was far from drawn. Santos still needed one more out to secure the save and the 3-2 win.
The next batter was Robinson Cano, the Yankees’ team leader in hits. Cano let a first-pitch slider bounce in the dirt before whipping his bathead through the zone on a low slider out over the plate. He connected solidly and sent the cowhide streaking into right field. The ball looked like it would fall in and roll to the warning track, possibly ending the game. Ozzie Guillen and the White Sox looked like they were about to have the wind knocked out of their metaphorical lungs by the cruelest of metaphorical gut punches.
Enter Brent Lillibridge, stage left. Makes even more improbable diving grab to end game. Plants face in grass and open-palm slaps ground in passionate triumph. Rises heroically with green stains on jersey and cap, then proceeds to celebrate with jubilant teammates. Crowd stunned. Baseball world rocked. Top spot on SportsCenter’s Top 10 solidified. End scene, act, play, theatre as a craft.
How’s that for an ending, Mr. Miller?
Purely in terms of degree of difficulty, I think the catch on A-Rod’s liner was the more impressive of the pair. Lillibridge positioned his body at the perfect angle to the wall, ensuring that he would be able to absorb the impact well enough not to drop the ball or cause harm to his person. And as he calculated his angle of approach, he also had to measure exactly where the ball was going to end up. Turns out all his split-second assessments were spot on; Lillibridge was just close enough to make a tremendous tip-of-the-webbing catch.
But the second snag was the better catch because of the context in which he made it. If that ball gets by him, it would have most likely spelled ‘game over.’ Now, Lillibridge could have played it safe and tried to keep that ball in front of him…but no. This kid was feeling himself, and he put his you-know-whats to the wall and went for glory. Not only did he take an amazingly gutsy risk in going for that ball, but he even finished the play with style, eating some lawn and pounding some grass blades for emphasis. For a non-everyday guy who had played right field a mere seven times in his pro career, that was a truly sensational display of nerve.
So there you have it. Brent Lillibridge. He’s the front runner for Best Defensive Inning of the Year. He’s the brash utility player with the most flair and brass in the game. But above all, plain and simple, Brent Lillibridge is a baseball player.
As I muttered last night (after cursing his name) while shaking my head, what a man.
NOTE: I will do a segment about the pinstripes performance in this series called “The Good, the Bad, the Sad, and the Savory” at the end game four. This is a Yankees blog after all, yeah?
If you’re among the 99.98% of the population that doesn’t know who Brent Lillibridge is or what Brent Lillibridge looks like, here's a photo:
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| Brent Lillibridge high-fiving teammates after saving last night's game with two outstanding catches in right field |
Brent Lillibridge was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2005 and eventually began his pro career in 2008 with the Atlanta Braves as a backup shortstop. The Washington native was dealt to the Chicago White Sox in the ‘08-‘09 offseason (in a deal that included Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan incidentally), where he has been used in a super-utility role, filling in at short, second, third, and all three outfield positions.
Last night at Yankee Stadium, Brent Lillibridge entered his 153rd career game as a pinch runner in the eighth inning (his 58th career appearance as a substitute player). Immediately after, Paul Konerko touched up shaky set-up man Rafael Soriano for a go-ahead 2-run homer run.
In the bottom half of the frame, Brent Lillibridge remained in the game as the right fielder. Lillibridge has patrolled right field a total of seven times prior to last night. Six of those instances occurred this season, including the previous night’s game in the Bronx.
It would appear that Brent Lillibridge is astonishingly adept at the art of adaptation…almost as adroit as the author alleges to be at the act of alliteration. Almost.
With one out and two runners aboard in the bottom of the 9th inning, Sergio Santos replaced Matt Thornton and his untamable fastball. The tying run in Derek Jeter stood on second base and the winning run in Mark Teixeira stood on first. Alex Rodriguez loomed over the batter’s box and dug in.
Rodriguez watched as a slider and two 96-mile-an-hour fastballs whizzed by, working his way into a hitter’s count, 2-1. Then on the fourth pitch, A-Rod lashed out at a thigh-high fastball on the outer edge, shooting a laser beam into deep right field. The ball looked like it was tagged for the Merrill Lynch bull logo plastered on the padded wall. Ozzie Guillen and the White Sox looked like they were about to suffer their league-leading 7th blown save.
Enter Brent Lillibridge, stage left. Makes improbable catch with glove hand outstretched and body parallel to aforementioned corporate icon. Queue collective sigh of disappoint (faint smattering of cheers) from crowd and Alex Rodriguez throwing hands on helmet in disbelief.
The scene was over, but the curtain was far from drawn. Santos still needed one more out to secure the save and the 3-2 win.
The next batter was Robinson Cano, the Yankees’ team leader in hits. Cano let a first-pitch slider bounce in the dirt before whipping his bathead through the zone on a low slider out over the plate. He connected solidly and sent the cowhide streaking into right field. The ball looked like it would fall in and roll to the warning track, possibly ending the game. Ozzie Guillen and the White Sox looked like they were about to have the wind knocked out of their metaphorical lungs by the cruelest of metaphorical gut punches.
Enter Brent Lillibridge, stage left. Makes even more improbable diving grab to end game. Plants face in grass and open-palm slaps ground in passionate triumph. Rises heroically with green stains on jersey and cap, then proceeds to celebrate with jubilant teammates. Crowd stunned. Baseball world rocked. Top spot on SportsCenter’s Top 10 solidified. End scene, act, play, theatre as a craft.
How’s that for an ending, Mr. Miller?
Purely in terms of degree of difficulty, I think the catch on A-Rod’s liner was the more impressive of the pair. Lillibridge positioned his body at the perfect angle to the wall, ensuring that he would be able to absorb the impact well enough not to drop the ball or cause harm to his person. And as he calculated his angle of approach, he also had to measure exactly where the ball was going to end up. Turns out all his split-second assessments were spot on; Lillibridge was just close enough to make a tremendous tip-of-the-webbing catch.
But the second snag was the better catch because of the context in which he made it. If that ball gets by him, it would have most likely spelled ‘game over.’ Now, Lillibridge could have played it safe and tried to keep that ball in front of him…but no. This kid was feeling himself, and he put his you-know-whats to the wall and went for glory. Not only did he take an amazingly gutsy risk in going for that ball, but he even finished the play with style, eating some lawn and pounding some grass blades for emphasis. For a non-everyday guy who had played right field a mere seven times in his pro career, that was a truly sensational display of nerve.
So there you have it. Brent Lillibridge. He’s the front runner for Best Defensive Inning of the Year. He’s the brash utility player with the most flair and brass in the game. But above all, plain and simple, Brent Lillibridge is a baseball player.
As I muttered last night (after cursing his name) while shaking my head, what a man.
NOTE: I will do a segment about the pinstripes performance in this series called “The Good, the Bad, the Sad, and the Savory” at the end game four. This is a Yankees blog after all, yeah?
1 comment:
I feel like a minority. I am in the .02 % that knows of the greatness that was/is Brent Lillibridge.
When Konerko hit the dong (no not that kinda dong) I had thrown in the towel. A-Rod's hit you're just baffled at how he caught that against the wall, just a ridiculous catch. Then the Cano hit, I couldnt believe it. Back to back plays, in opposite directions. What can you do?! I wasn't even mad, I was just in shock.
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