Yes-Yes-Yes No!

In basketball, there's a phenomenon known as "No-No-No Yes!" whereby a player takes a extremely difficult, ill-advised shot that miraculously goes in.  The "No-No-No Yes!" name is meant to describe what the player's teammates and fans are thinking / saying while the play is going on - they start by crying out "No!" while the play is developing, but end up cheering "Yes!" when the play incredibly goes in their favor.  In yesterday's Braves game against the Philadelphia Phillies - nationally televised as part of TBS's Sunday afternoon schedule - I had a directly opposite set of reactions while watching Atlanta rookie shortshop Andrelton Simmons use smarts and hustle to turn a routine single into a double.  I'm calling it a "Yes-Yes-Yes No!" moment.

On the play, Simmons hit a ground ball up the middle for a clean single.  After noticing that the Phillies centerfielder was slow to get to the ball and wasn't paying attention, the Braves rookie took off for second base.  He slid head first into the bag, made it there well in advance of the relay throw, and turned a simple hit into a big play.  The aggressive baserunning forced Philadelphia to walk the #8 hitter (since first base was open) and cleared the pitcher's spot, allowing leadoff man and All Star Michael Bourn to lead off the next inning.  At the time, I was thrilled - the young shortstop's hustle showed the type of savvy that you normally only expect from veteran players.  While watching the game I actually went out of my way to praise Simmons's smarts and effort out loud, and it's not very often that I see something during a game that really impresses me.

It wasn't until a few innings later, however, that I found out that Simmons broke his right pinkie finger on the play.  Whereas I had previously been pumped up by the play (the "Yes-Yes-Yes" part), the news took all of the wind out of my sails and made me question all of the praise that I had been heaping on the young rookie (the "No!").  Was Simmons's hustle an example of baseball smarts, or merely an example of the type of recklessness that a veteran player would know to avoid?  Sure, Simmons grabbed the Braves an extra base and helped the team avoid leading off an inning with pitcher Jair Jurrjens, but he ended up costing his team a lot more than he earned.  Because of his effort, Atlanta will be without its starting shortstop (and one of its hottest hitters) for a to-be-determined amount of time.  So which commentary was the correct one - the "Yes-Yes-Yes" or the "No!" part? 

Andrelton Simmons won't be playing SS for a while aftre breaking his right pinkie on Sunday.

After reflecting on the play, I'm sticking with my original "Yes-Yes-Yes" on this one.  Hindsight is always 20/20, and had I known that Simmons would have suffered a significant injury on the play I certainly would have advised against it.  But there was no way of knowing that Simmons would get hurt during his slide, and it's effort like that displayed by the shortstop yesterday that makes a good player great.  Perhaps going forward, Simmons can combine his youthful energy and effort with some veteran smarts and try a feet-first slide next time.  If he can do that, I might find myself watching Andrelton Simmons and saying "Yes-Yes-Yes YES!" for many years to come.