Gross caught stealing in 1st inning because of mosquito

[dlk9s]

From the JS recap of the game. One of the most bizarre things I've ever heard when it comes to baseball:

 

A mosquito bite that Brewers manager Ned Yost got earlier in the week at Miller Park cost his team a scoring opportunity in the first inning in what became an 11-4 rout at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds.

That's right, a mosquito bite.

Gabe Gross hit a one-out double in the first inning but ended the inning by getting caught trying to steal third as Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo struck out Ryan Braun.

"I had a mosquito bite in a certain spot and I was itching it, and Nick thought I was putting the steal on," Brewers manager Ned Yost said, referring to third-base coach Nick Leyva.

Baseball creed says never to make the first or third out at third base, and with Prince Fielder due up after Braun, seeing Gross take off for third was simply shocking.

"Gabe takes off and I'm looking around thinking, 'What's going on here?' " Yost said. "That was an omen to begin with."

Gross was equally shocked.

"I thought it was kind of a weird time, but he put it on and I took off," Gross said.

(consolidated tags --1992)

[TooLiveBrew]

Even though the game was no laughing matter, that's freakin' funny!

 

Yost can't even itch a mosquito bite without making his team lose! FIRE HIM!

 

http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/wink.gif

[pitchleague]

that's very interesting. Funny, too. At least it didn't cost us a game.

 

But I'm sure somebody out there in Wisconsin (not neccessarily BF.net) thinks that this blunder by Ned is the reason we lost and he should be fired.

[giffted1]

Let me guess, the last time Ned left a starter in too long was because he was bitten by a tsetse fly.

[DougJones43]

A swarm of angry bees made Ned use Aquino the other day.

A deer tick threatened to give Ned lyme disease if he didn't bat Estrada 5th for half the season.

Mench was left in to bat against Dempster and the Cubs because an army of fire ants didn't like Jenkins in that situation.

[sheetswannabe]

Nice DougJones..... I wouldnt doubt the mosquito thing because the other day I was playing center and they were bugging me so much that I missed a fly ball after a long run because they were so thick I was going crazy.

[sbrylski]

If that mosquito doesn't exist, maybe we win that game. If we win that game, maybe the Cubs don't win the pennant. If the Cubs don't win the pennant, maybe some teenager in Chicago kills himself/herself out of frustration. That teenager might have grown up to become a doctor, and eventually cures your good friend's cancer.

 

If you go back in time, don't kill any mosquitos.

[jeffy]

That's funny. I thought that steal was a dumb move at the time. Initially I thought "what the heck is Yost doing"...then when they showed Yost in the dugout afterward he looked irritated, so I thought Gross had gone on his own.

[TooLiveBrew]

I thought that Gross had done that on his own, too, js. Which was weird.

[Patrick425]

I would assume was relaying the signal in to Leyva. Maybe he didn't watch Leyva giving the signal to Gross, but if he did, couldn't he have quickly ran out of the dugout and called a time out? I don't know...maybe not. Sometimes there is not a lot of time between when the signal is given and when the pitcher begins his motion.

[TooLiveBrew]

I'd assume that if he didn't realize he was 'signaling', he wouldn't notice Leyva doing anything. Just a guess.

[KCBrewerfan34]

Typical stuff from our almost always incompentent manager, ++! it just keeps getting worse for this guy. The same day he says its time to go and we're going all out Ned looks like a total idiot again, this time because of a mosquito. LOL

[pebadger]

Wasn't this part of the plot on a Gilligan's Island episode? Gilligan was supposed to give the Skipper a signal by waving his white hat, but then a fly was bothering him, so Skipper pulled the rope for the net trap too early?

[djoctagone]

i really want a mosquito tag on this thread.

[brettac1]

I can laugh at this, because I have a strange feeling that scoring one run in the top of the 1st wouldn't have made much of a difference.

 

This is up there with salad tongs.

[RU Rah Rah]

I don't know whether I should laugh, feel embarrassed for him, or question whether he's just making it up to save Leyva and/or Gross from criticism. But I've got a feeling that we might be hearing from Jay Leno on this at some point....

[MillerPark]

Umm...Ned could have used OFFhttp://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/tongue.gif

[TerraceReserved]

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/31JF5GQEEJL._AA280_.jpg

This mighta helped.

[dlk9s]

By the way, this is a good (if extraordinarily bizarre and statistically improbable) example of why coaches need indicator signs.

[hawing]

I especially enjoy that this thread was started by dlk9s, with the little bug avatar.

[endaround]

So will Yost's locker be filled with calomine lotion for the rest of the season?