An interesting side note to today’s game that was reported by Jim Baumbach of Newsday. He writes…
I also spoke with Brian Schneider about his trouble with catching the ball – he said he was using a new glove model this year for the first time in 10 or 11 years, and he never got comfortable with it. He said it got to the point where catching the ball became something he was thinking about, and that was it for him. So he "shut it down" – his words – in the seventh inning Sunday and went back to old faithful.
It’s so funny to see Schneider not only admit as much, but to do so publicly. It’s ironic because of all the staunch support Schneider had been getting after I made a comment about his defensive woes, considering he was advertised as such a defensive guru.
There are some things in baseball I consider to be overrated. Game-calling is one of them. If a pitcher don’t have it, I don’t care how good a game a catcher calls, it ain’t gonna happen. However, if your pitcher is lights out, even Mackey Sasser… well you get the picture.
Let’s hope his glove "Old Faithful" works wonders for Schneider and proves me wrong.
P.S. He should go back to a regular catchers mask too. How can he even see those balls in the ground with that monstrosity? Hey wait a minute… he ditched that crazy mask too. Alright, I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
