Super Sam Takes the Mound

Sam Fuld‘s brief mound appearance is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in baseball this year. It was starting to be a late night and I was about to head in when the Rays game came back from commercial. On the mound was Fuld. He looked as serious as could be, warming up like he was actually going to face a hitter. You couldn’t have had more of a contrast between Fuld and starter Jeff Niemann though. Niemann is almost a foot taller than the pint-sized Fuld who is listed at just 5’10”.

It was a brilliant move by Maddon who of course had no intention of using his left fielder in relief. Any pitcher who is brought in must face at least one batter unless of course they are hurt. Apparently, Fuld had some “soreness“. Sure. It allowed him to leave the game and give Cesar Ramos as much time as he needed. Sure. Maybe the Brewers should be angry at the delay tactic which was a little, shall we say, beneath the rules. If it wasn’t an 8-1 game at the time, they might have been. Still, a classic moment and more proof that Joe Maddon thinks of nearly everything.

Update:

Joe Maddon wanted to clarify that he wasn’t trying to trick the umpires when he sent Fuld to the mound.

"We got away with violating a rule. There was no shenanigans or misinformation, I just think it was a miscommunication between me and [home-plate umpire] Bob Davidson. And quite frankly, I don’t understand why there’s been such a big deal made about it. It was a total honest mistake."