When Miguel Sano ranged far to his right Tuesday night, stretched to field a grounder, threw while his momentum carried him toward the Target Field tarp and bounced a throw to first baseman Joe Mauer, I suddenly felt nostalgic. The play looked remarkably like the one Brooks Robinson made in Cincinnati during the 1970 World Series. That play, among others, made him the Series MVP.
When Sano made his play, I tweeted the comparison. After the game, without offering any hints, I asked Twins manager Paul Molitor if he had seen that kind of play before.
And Molitor mentioned "Brooksy.'' After his news conference, Molitor asked me who the batter was who hit the ball to Robinson. It was Lee May. "Right runner, then,'' Molitor said.
May was slow and the Cincinnati turf was hard, enabling Robinson to make that play. Sano made his play on a soft grass field against a fast runner in Austin Jackson.
JIM SOUHAN