It was perilous, it was preposterous and when it was over, and he comprehended how it was apprehended, Nolan Arenado admitted he’d never try it again.
Of , Colorado’s third baseman said in his televised postgame interview Tuesday: “If I could do it again, I probably wouldn’t go like that again. I’ll try to remind myself. … Obviously it’s a play, to be honest, I never wanna go through again. It was scary. Thank god I didn’t get hurt.”
Bottom eight, at San Fran. Rockies led 3-0, but there were two on and no outs. Gregor Blanco slaps a foul fly ball into the windy night sky. And Arenado started chuggin’. Full-speed, couldn’t have run faster. And what happened next was a combination of two of the greatest catches ever — the and the . In stride, like Demaryius or something, Arenado caught the ball over his shoulder, basically because his left eye picked the thing out of the sky. That, of course, would have made it an all-time Arenado catch, and after two gold gloves seasons, that’s saying something.
But then came the “did-that-just-happen?” As he snatched the ball, he went sailing atop the tarp, rolled up by the bullpen, and soaring toward the stands. Jeter-y. But — but — is one acrobatic yet smooth motion, Nolan popped up and threw a sharp ball to third base — from both knees ON TOP OF THE TARP. The runner, tagging from second, was barely safe at third. Still. When, in any game ever, has a baseball player thrown a live ball with his two knees on top of the tarp?
WATCH:
Twitter, of course, exploded like it does. It was fun, I’ll tell you, thousands of folks simultaneously shrieking in 140 characters or less.
The catch was so surreal, it made Charlie Blackmon’s clutch catch at the wall, later in the inning, an afterthought.
The Rockies won the game — their fifth on the road in this nascent season — and Arenado is now a national name.
CHEW ON THIS
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Benjamin Hochman: bhochman@denverpost.com or
