Tag: Gary Sanchez

Twins’ Gilberto Celestino nearly clobbered Gary Sanchez in the face in the on-deck circle

This was SCARY.

Gary Sanchez nearly lost his head while walking near the on-deck circle.

On Sunday, the Minnesota Twins were visiting the Chicago White Sox when disaster almost struck. With Gilberto Celestino in the on-deck circle warming up, Sanchez was walking back to the dugout after his at bat. Unaware that his teammate was there, Celestino took a large swing with his bat to finish warming up, one which came mere centimeters from clocking Sanchez square in the face.

Thankfully for everyone involved, Celestino’s errant swing went above Sanchez’s head, but this was way too close for comfort for any of the parties involved.

Yeah, that could have been real bad had it connected. Definitely a lesson learned for Celestino here.

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Twins’ Rocco Baldelli goes off on seething tirade after umps overturn pivotal review at the plate

Rocco Baldelli was absolutely LIVID after this key review in the Twins’ loss.

Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli did not mince words with the umpires here after a crucial review at the plate ended up becoming the winning run for the Toronto Blue Jays.

On Sunday, with the score between the Twins and Blue Jays tied 2-2 in the top of the 10th inning, Whit Merrifield attempted to go home on a tag from third off a shallow fly ball to left field. Merrifield was called out after a tag from Gary Sanchez caught him at home plate in the hip, initially ending the half inning for the visitors.

That was until the play went under review, in which the call was then reversed, as the umpires deemed Sanchez in violation of blocking the plate, allowing the run to stand as the Blue Jays took a 3-2 lead. Here’s how the initial play went down at home plate.

After the call was overturned, to the displeasure of the Minnesota home crowd, Baldelli absolutely went off on the umpires for the controversial call that eventually became the game-winner for the Blue Jays.

And Baldelli’s vexations didn’t just extend to the field either, as he continued his tirade in his postgame press conference, calling the whole affair “beyond embarrassing” and “pathetic”.

While I get where Baldelli’s coming from here, Sanchez had the ball in his possession when his leg kicked out and blocked Merrifield from the plate, putting him in violation of the controversial ruling. Them’s the breaks sometimes in sports!

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Yankees’ Gary Sanchez botches easy out at home with lukewarm tag attempt against Mets

Oh no, Gary Sanchez, not like this.

New York Yankees fans, you may want to look away from this one.

On Friday, with the Yankees up 1-0 in the bottom of the first against the New York Mets, it seemed as if the team was set to get out of the inning with no runs against. With two outs, Javier Baez lined a hard-hit ball out to left field and the awaiting Joey Gallo, who made the throw right to catcher Gary Sanchez with, seemingly, time to spare.

Unfortunately, Sanchez completely botched the tag on Jonathan Villar, allowing the Mets to tie the game up on what should have been an easy tag out at home. Here’s how the disastrous play went down, which was originally called an out before going to replay.

Instead of going for the easy tap on the leg or the body, Sanchez instead tried to get Villar on the top of the head, a tag which the latter evaded by slowing up just enough to then slide under it.

Here’s the final angle that convinced the umpires to reverse the call on Villar.

And for good measure, here’s how far away Villar was from Sanchez when the catcher nabbed the ball, giving you a good idea of just how dead to rights the Mets second baseman was.

Yeah, Sanchez really bungled that play. Thankfully, the Yankees got the run back and took the 2-1 lead the very next inning but still… not a great attempt! I’ll leave you with Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez and his thoughts on the play.

What was he thinking, indeed!!!

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Gary Sanchez mocks Jose Altuve’s jersey ‘shyness’ with hilarious response

He makes a good point.

With pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training camps this week, much of the conversation will be about the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal that rocked baseball this offseason.

The Astros were accused — and subsequently punished — of stealing signs since 2017 with an outfield camera and having a team staffer relay signals to the hitters by beating up a trash can. The accusations started there, but as more information came out about the Astros’ sign-stealing tactics, MLB fans couldn’t look past how Astros star Jose Altuve behaved following his walk-off, pennant-clinching home run against the Yankees.

As Altuve approached home plate, he could be seen telling his teammates to not rip off his jersey and visibly protected the jersey for the ensuing celebration. Altuve actually returned to the clubhouse to change into the AL championship T-shirt. All this had fans and players suspicious about the Astros using wearable buzzers to relay signs instead of the trash-can whacking.

While MLB said that it found no evidence of wearable buzzers and Altuve explained the ordeal as being “shy,” Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez had his own commentary on the matter.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday through an interpreter, Sanchez joked that if he had hit a pennant-winning homer, his teammates could rip anything and everything off. Altuve’s concern over his jersey — in that moment — went beyond the realm of normal behavior.

“They can rip everything off,” Sanchez said.

I mean, he makes a good point. Why would Altuve really be concerned about his jersey in such a high-emotion, exciting moment? It’s a question that fans and players will continue to ask.

But hey, now we know that it’s going to get pretty wild if Sanchez ever hits a pennant-winning home run.

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