AL defenses keep doing an aggressive shift on Travis Hafner. In Tampa, they went so far as to have the third baseman to the right of second while the second baseman played in the outfield.

In any case, David Dellucci on first. Two out. Bottom of the 11th. Hafner up. Two strikes. The pitch was terrible, way low and outside, and Pronk was completely off-balance, leaning and reaching out to cue it down the left field line–where there was nobody. It skittered into the outfield.

At some point the camera switched to Dellucci and you could tell he was going to try it. The defense was scrambling, the announcers screaming. Joel Skinner at third started windmilling his arm. Run. Run. Run. And Dellucci scored from first.

I don’t know when I’ve laughed harder at the end of a game. There’s no doubt he meant to do it. There was a big, dopey grin on many faces.

Generally, of course, a team would be happy to force Hafner to get a hit that way. He’s got no speed, so it limits him to a single. But with the game on the line, with two out and the runners moving, there just has to be a better way. Not that I know what it is.