Mrs. Dave and I took in the Sox-Sox game at Fenway yesterday. David Ortiz came to bat in the first inning, and the White Sox infield shifted around as they normally do for the lefty slugger - the second baseman played short right field, the shortstop played a shade over from where the second baseman would normally play, and the third baseman basically played just to the third-base side of second base.
He came up again in the third inning with a runner on first base, and I noticed that the alignment had shifted some - the third baseman was now at the shortstop position, the shortstop was where he was before, but the second baseman was in on the dirt instead of halfway between the infield and the right fielder.
My mind started racing as to why they might have changed the alignment so much - maybe the third baseman was playing closer to his normal position so that he could make it to third base in case the runner decided to take an extra base, or maybe they were deliberately trying to make Ortiz hit the ball the other way to prevent him from advancing the runner, and the pitcher trying to pitch him away to accomplish that. After the first pitch, I idly wondered aloud.
Mrs. Dave: It's probably because they need to hold the runner on first.
Mr. Dave: ...
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