“We made an agreement. He and I made an agreement. This team made an agreement that when we play the game, that we hustle at all times, that we play the game with intensity and the willingness to win. As it turned out, his spot came up. Kevin Frandsen put on a nice at-bat against [Trevor] Rosenthal. But his spot came up with the ability to win the game. That’s a shame for his teammates.”

[…]

“It’s the way we set out to do it. Regardless of situation, regardless of what’s happening to you personally, we have to play the game a certain way to give ourselves the best chance to win. And it’s too bad that it came down to that situation in the ninth inning, when he could have been at the plate. For the sake of his teammates, and the sake of the organization, he needs to play with aggression and the way he plays.”

[…]

“He’s an exciting player. People come to pay money and watch him play, and watch him play the way he can play. And it’s pretty exciting. It’s pretty dynamic. But there’s another side to it. The other side is, regardless of how the ball comes off the bat or regardless of how he’s feeling about an at-bat, he must maintain that intensity and that aggressiveness. And that means running all the way to first base and touching the base.”

“There’s a million reasons why. The transfer rules that we’ve seen lately. What if that guy bobbles the ball as he’s throwing it around? If he doesn’t touch the base, he’s out. If he’s in the dugout, he’s automatically out. Beyond the all the just-run-90-feet stuff, there’s a real, tangible rule behind it now. So we must do that. And he understands that.”

-Nationals manager Matt Williams explains his decision to bench Bryce Harper for not hustling on the below play. (via Washington Post)

Here's the groundout that led to #Nats' skipper Matt Williams benching Bryce Harper for lack of hustle. https://t.co/grkEhwLyia

— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) April 19, 2014

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“We felt that it was clear that the replay was inconclusive, and the frustrating part is that when this was rolled out and explained to us, particularly on the throw received by the first baseman, we were instructed when the ball enters the glove — and not that it has to hit the back of the glove — is where the out is deemed complete.”

“At the same time, any angle that we looked at, we couldn’t tell whether [Cervelli’s] foot was on the bag behind Mike Napoli’s leg, so where this became conclusive is a hard pill to swallow. And on the heels of yesterday, it’s hard to have any faith in the system, to be honest with you.”

“There’s going be a learning curve. But again you’d think a video replay would be conclusive or there are plays where it would not be conclusive, which was tonight. We ended up on the wrong side both times.”

“As much as they’re trying to help the human element, it seems like it’s added the human element at a different level.”

-Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell reacts to two instant replay calls going against the Red Sox this past weekend in their series against the Yankees. (via ESPN Boston)

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