Swisher forgets something, drops sacrifice bunt with one out

We all have our "off" days, our senior moments, our brain farts.

Most of us just don't mess up in front of thousands of people and many more, including the TV audience, as New York Yankees slugger Nick Swisher did Thursday night.

Swisher's calling card includes patience, power, spunk and the ability to marry well, but attention to detail was missing in the fifth inning when he put down a sacrifice bunt ? with one out.

Swisher wasn't trying to catch the Boston Red Sox napping by trying to push a bunt single past pitcher Jon Lester. He was trying to move runner Robinson Cano over to third base ? as if the mighty Yankees were the lowly Royals or White Sox, and did that sort of thing.

Swisher later fessed up, as if he had a choice:

"I didn't know how many outs there were," he said. "Straight up that was it."

"I thought I'd sac it ? no big deal, just bunt him over and then (Andruw Jones) is going to knock him in," he continued. "I got back to the dugout and was like, 'Man, no one's even standing up and giving me five for that?' Then I looked at the scoreboard and saw there was two outs and it was like 'oh (shoot)!'

"It's just one of those things: you feel like a moron, but what are you going to do?"

This happened, despite the fact that all who love baseball are trained to respect every Yankees-Red Sox game as though it were being played in the center of the universe, no matter if at Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium. And the fans of both teams might not care if the games take 4-5 hours to play, but attention spans these days can only stand so much. Even when you're playing, apparently.

Just check one of the many Fenway scoreboards, Nick. Or ask someone. Or just pay attention. (Note: The photo of Swisher isn't from the game Thursday, but it just seems fitting.)

Even funnier, as video will show, was Yankees players in the dugout giving Swisher the business. Bunting. And with one out! Ha!

Of course, bunting at all ? especially in the fifth inning ? is often a bad idea. Especially on the Yankees, who have one of the top offenses in the majors. You don't drive a Yugo, you're in a Maserati! Swing the bat!

Plus, they were trailing by one run at the time in a hitter-friendly park with roughly half of the game to go. They beat Boston anyway, but Swisher's mistake could have been costly. Hey, who says the Yankees can't catch a break?

In the ninth inning, with a tie score, when you need a run, if you're the home team, maybe you bunt. Maybe. As long as there's no outs at the time, of course.

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