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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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S-Rod runs over another catcher

Posted May 11, 2012 by Roger Mooney

Updated May 12, 2012 at 12:09 AM

ROGER MOONEY
BALTIMORE It is a scene you don’t see very often from a Ray, unless that Ray is Sean Rodriguez.

The Rays shortstop once again ran over a catcher, this time it was Baltimore’s Matt Wieters, and it occurred during the fourth inning of Friday’s 4-3 loss at Camden Yards.

Here is a clip of the play:
http://tbo.ly/ITt1Y6

Rodriguez, who was on the second while the Rays had the bases-loaded and no out, sort of attempted to tag up on a drive Elliot Johnson hit to the right wall. Had Rodriguez gone halfway to third on the play, he would have easily scored because the ball hit the wall just above the glove of a leaping Nick Markakis.

As a result, Rodriguez tried to atone for his blunder by trying to knock the ball out of the mitt of Wieters.

Let Rodriguez describe the play:

“When (Johnson) hit it, the way Markakis was going back after it, I thought he was going to catch it,” he said. “I started slowly working my way back to the bag then I kind of took a shuffle off when he went up for the ball, I actually of took a shuffle back. That’s what kind of got me caught up. Then the ball hit off the wall. I was thinking I got to score. … I have to be halfway right there so when the ball hits off the wall I can score easy. … (Second baseman Robert) Andino made a good throw ‘cause Markakis kind of lollygagged towards it a little bit and nonchalantly went and picked it up and threw it in.”

Rodriguez had no other choice but to try to dislodge the ball from Wieters’s mitt, much he did during Game 4 of last year’s ALDS when he knocked the ball out of the mitt of Texas catcher Mike Napoli and scored on the play.

“(Wieters) is definitely a lot bigger than me. I was out. His foot was in front of the bag so I got nowhere to slide. I have to get him and see if I could knock it loose. He held on to it. Credit to him.”