=== Rob Johnson's Tag Play ===

My wife said that the '09 Mariners remind her of the 1995 Mariners, after Griffey got hurt, and they made their run.  Every night it was somebody different who was putting the smiles on everybody's faces, and every night it was a scrub.  Alex Diaz or Shooter McGavin or Danny Meyer or somebody would come up with a 1-in-20 play, and the M's would win despite being out-hit on the night...

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Permit me to wax ecstatic for a moment on Rob Johnson's circus-play tag. 

Obviously, the ball hit Johnson's mitt just a fraction of a second before Young (IIRC) did, so the sheer concentration in SQUEEZING the horsehide like that was enough to put it on SportsCenter.  (Did Johnson go home and visualize the bang-bang hold onto the ball after dropping Ichiro's short-hop throw the other night?  If so, even more kudos.)

But that's not what really got me...

In aikido they practice the "tenkan" move when faced with a charging tackle (as most street fights wind up in anyway).  Rather than stand on the tracks while the train hits you, you step off the tracks.  Nothing good happens to the train.

Young* charged down the line and leaned the bony point of his shoulder hard a-port at Johnson's temple -- and Johnson responded as few ML catchers do, by simply stepping aside.  Young lurched off balance, stumbled, and did a barrel roll as he hit the ground.  Yuck.  For the tackler.   Young's natural athleticism did prevent a worse fate, but it was still humiliating and painful... ;- )

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If you or I *knew* we were going to be tackled in a street fight, and we were told to try to step aside last second... the odds are 50:1 that we would slide-step it.  First you unweight the right foot and slide it out, and then you shift your weight AGAIN and unweight the left foot, and slide that out.

There isn't time to unweight your feet twice.

What they do in aikido, is simply unweight the left foot, and pivot around so they're turned the other way.  It's incredibly easy to execute.  Sometimes I do it in tackle football, as a joke...

If you ever watch Steven Seagal tackled in one of his movies, he (1) pivots around his right foot like Rob Johnson did, (2) catches the tackler under the near arm with his own right arm, and (3) uses his left arm to reach across and pull the far elbow down.  The tackler does a spectacular cartwheel mid-air, both in the movies and in real life...

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You need 1000's of reps before you have any chance to perform "tenkan" reliably against a surprise tackle.  :- )  Rob Johnson did this instinctively, including a graceful sweep of his left leg off the train tracks.  Johnson's body control, and his lightness-on-his-feet, was exceptional.

Watching RJ perform this impromptu "tenkan" movement, AT THE SAME TIME that he squeezed the ball in his mitt and held on to it, was one of the great acts of body control I've seen in sports lately.

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Mariners fans seem kind of weirdly unaware that Rob Johnson has been pegged as a #1B/#2A major league catcher for several years now.  In cyber-Seattle, we see him as a non-issue.  To the scouts on the field, he's been seen as a guy who will have a major league career.

And has that guy been gunnin' down the runners or what... :- )

Most-comparable player:  Dan Wilson.   We remember Lou saying, when he traded for Danny, "you'll like this kid.  He's a number one catcher."  Lou wanted the staff generalship and the defense, along with a mediocre-but-tough bat.  Rob Johnson is about the same thing.

I'd say that Rob Johnson has a good 70% shot at a Dan Wilson career.  Not that I personally am looking for Dan Wilson at catcher, but objectively speaking, a player like that has a lot of value.

Would the M's be leading the division, in Johjima's absence, if they hadn't had a Dan Wilson starting at catcher?

BABVA,

Dr D