E.K. NATION

With very few exceptions, after you hit the ball,

Run, Forrest, run!!!

We can't tell you how many times lately we've seen a guy hit a grounder and jog down to first base while getting thrown out by a mere step. We also can't tell you how much that disgusts me.

Actually, We can. It disgusts us tremendously.

If you hit a pop-up or a fly ball with a man on first and fewer than two outs, you don't need to sprint to first base. You can't really go anywhere until the runner finds out what happens to the batted ball.

But on Wednesday night, we saw a thing of beauty, and we're not joking about this. With the Giants trying to rally in the bottom of the eighth inning, Michael Tucker hit a ground ball to Cincinnati second baseman D'Angelo Jimenez. And as soon as he did so, he put his head down and sprinted.

The play by Jimenez did not appear to be extremely difficult, and we don't know what went through his mind, but he may have seen Tucker sprinting and realized he was not going to be able to nonchalant this one over to first. Well, guess what: The throw went wide, there was an error on the play, and Tucker was safe at first.

All these ground balls that get hit, you never know. Major league infielders are quite adept at the routine ball; natch, that's what makes them routine. But you just never know. We remember seeing that one highlight, we can't remember who it was, but we remember the play vividly: A second basemen scooped up an easy grounder and prepared to make a simple toss over to first. However, while setting to make the throw, his right foot stepped on his left foot. He fell over, never made the throw and the batter was safe.

You just never know. So props to Tucker for sprinting out of the box -- although we'd rather castigate those who do not do their jobs by sprinting.

As for that doofus in the outfield stands who reached over and caught J.T. Snow's fly ball that night: Hey moron! Stop reaching over the fence to catch balls in fair territory! For cryin' out loud man! Had the umpires not had discretion at their disposal in that situation, and had you turned it into a straight-up ground-rule double, you would have cost the Giants -- your team! -- a run. Deivi Cruz would not have been allowed to score from first on that two-out hit. He would have been sent back to third. As it happened, the umpires did use their discretion and allowed the run to stand, figuring that with two outs, Cruz definitely would have scored, and he would have. But for Chrissakes, idiot: Wipe that stupid grin off your face and think about what you just did. You could have cost the Giants the game and all you can do is marvel at the fact that you erroneously think something amazing has happened to you.

I was heartened when the broadcast lingered on the idiot for a bit after the play. That stupid grin turned to shock when he started seeing security guards come up to him. I thought I saw one guard say to him, "All right, let's go. You're gone," or something to that effect, but what I hope the guy said to him was, "You don't have what it takes to attend a public game." So I am assuming the dork was removed from the premises. And good. He should be banned from SBC Bell for life.

Memo to Dustin Hermanson: You're the man, now, apparently. Enjoy it. You came into the game and took approximately 0.0000045 seconds to dispatch the Reds 1-2-3 in the ninth. Herges would have taken 45 minutes to take a 8-7 score and turned it into 12-7.