Tampa Bay Rays Joe Maddon Accidentally Forgoes DH
By David Hill
Joe Maddon has been quite innovative during his time as a major league manager. Even his mistakes have proven beneficial, such as when he accidentally had a pitcher hit third or the Tampa Bay Rays on this day in 2009.
In interleague games, or in his time in the National League, we have seen Joe Maddon bat his pitchers eighth. It makes sense in a way, as he could essentially have a second leadoff hitter in the ninth spot in the batting order, helping to spark the offense.
Yet, on this day, when Maddon was managing the Tampa Bay Rays, he did not have the pitcher hit eighth. By mistake, he filled out a lineup card with Andy Sonnanstine batting third. To compound the error, this mistake happened during a home game against the Cleveland Indians, meaning that the Rays were without their designated hitter.
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As it turned out, the Rays would not miss having the designated hitter in this game. They hammered Cleveland starter David Huff, knocking him out with a five run fourth inning en route to a 7-5 victory. Michael Hernandez provided the biggest hit, with a bases clearing double that would eventually prove to be the game winning hit.
Even Sonnanstine got into the action, hitting an RBI double to deep left to plate Hernandez. That would be Sonnanstine’s only extra base hit in his career, and provide one of the two RBI that he would have overall. That double would also be one of the few highlights for Sonnanstine in this outing, as he gave up five runs in his 5.2 innings, even though he earned the victory.
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Joe Maddon has proven to be a managerial genius during his time at the helm of the Tampa Bay Rays and the Chicago Cubs. Even his rare mistakes have proven to work, given Sonnanstine getting his only career extra base hit in this outing.