Brandon Phillips makes slick behind-the-back toss to start double play in style
On the Los Angeles Angels, everyone talks about Andrelton Simmons and his defensive wizardry. Rightly so, because he’s incredible. But one of the newest members of the Angels, second baseman Brandon Phillips, has some slick moves of his own. And he got to show off on the diamond on Monday with one of the niftiest plays you’ll see.
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The Angels were facing the Oakland Athletics, and were in need of a double play in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Angels had a two-run lead, but the A’s had a man on first and everything could change with a swing of the bat. A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell was at the plate, and he smashed a ball toward the hole between first and second.
For a second, it looked like the ball might make it through and squirt into the shallow part of the outfield. But Brandon Phillips came to the rescue. He dove on the ball, stopped it, got up onto his knees and then flipped it behind his back to Simmons at second base. Simmons then tossed it to C.J. Cron at first base to complete the double play and end the inning.
If for some reason you don’t think it’s as cool as it sounds, take a look at this GIF from MLB’s Cut4.
It looks like a trick play you’d see in a baseball movie, where the whole thing is carefully engineered and filmed to look completely natural. But Phillips didn’t need any retakes or fancy camera angles. With skills like that, Simmons is going to have a lot of fun turning double plays with Phillips over the last month of the season.
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher
