FORT MYERS, Fla. – Few players reported to spring training this week more eager for a fresh start than new Red Sox utility-man Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
Last October, the Blue Jays were as close to a championship as a team can be: Game 7, the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the ninth, a chance to walk off and bring Toronto its first World Series trophy since 1993.
Then, Daulton Varsho grounded a ball to Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Miguel Rojas, and the throw to catcher Will Smith was just in time to nail the pinch-running Kiner-Falefa. Upon review, the force-out was upheld. Ernie Clement flew out to end the inning, and the Dodgers won it all in the 11th.
Though far from the Blue Jays’ only misstep in one of the most exquisite tug-of-war Fall Classics in recent memory – a series which included an 18-inning Game 3 that matched the Dodgers’ and Red Sox’s record-breaking stalemate in 2018 – it’s the moment fans, media members, even then-Jays bench coach Don Mattingly pinpointed as the difference between triumph and heartbreak.
Notably absent from the conversation was the man himself.
Kiner-Falefa weighed in at last on Tuesday, after his one-year Red Sox contract became official.
“It was a long offseason,” he admitted. “I learned so much through that run, about the emotions and the way things can swing in a series, and to go seven games in the ALCS and the World Series, you can’t get that experience back. … But yeah, I mean, it was heartbreaking. It was definitely heartbreaking.”
It was Kiner-Falefa’s first media availability, not only of spring training and his Red Sox tenure, but since that night in October. That, in and of itself, is the chief source of frustration.
“The biggest regret was there were no cameras in my face after the game,” Kiner-Falefa said. “If it was gonna be such a big deal, it would have been nice to have the camera in my face and have a chance to speak, but it blew up without me getting a proper interview, so I thought that was unfair… everybody just kind of going off with it without me really being able to talk about the play.”
So, what happened in Game 7, in Kiner-Falefa’s own words?
“I was trying to break up a double play,” he explained. “In my mind I thought, with a routine groundball to second, they’re going to go home to one, so I went in hard to slide. That was my intention off the bat, and Ernie Clement was our best hitter at the time besides Vladdy (Guerrero Jr.), and to hit into a double play there and not get Ernie up would have been terrible.”
“I didn’t really see the trip and all the little things,” Kiner-Falefa said of Rojas’ stumble before throwing home. “I was initially just thinking, break up that double play right there and get our best, hottest hitter up at the time, and it almost paid off.”
It was also what Kiner-Falefa, and Blue Jays manager John Schneider, say he was told to do.
“I feel so bad for Izzy for getting all the blame,” Schneider said at the MLB Winter Meetings in December. “What’s not talked about, I think, enough is the fact that Smith likes to back-pick to third with left-handed hitters up. It’s something we talked about before the Series, something that (third-base coach Carlos Febles) reminded Izzy of. … I don’t really think (Kiner-Falefa) could have done much more.”
“I did what I was told, and it was an organizational policy,” echoed Kiner-Falefa. “And we win as a team, we lose as a team, and there was a lot of opportunities to win before that, and we didn’t do it. So that wasn’t the sole reason we lost. Seven-game series, a lot happened before that, and it’s a great learning experience.”
“If I could do it over, I definitely would have got a couple steps out, but you gotta do what the organization wants,” he continued. “And if you saw the situation from the game before, Miles Straw was on third and he did the exact same thing I did, but nobody looked at him because everybody’s looking at (Addison) Barger getting doubled off. … It’s not Carlos’ fault either, it’s no one’s fault. It’s just that’s what they did all season long.”
After the World Series, the Hawaii native became a free agent and went home to surround himself with loved ones who could “pick me up.”
“It was a good refresh,” Kiner-Falefa said. “I just wish I could have talked about it after. … It would have been nice to just get it all out of the way.”
Instead, he made an assiduous effort to retool his social media algorithms, so as to avoid being bombarded with reminders of the moment.
“Oh man, my algorithm on my social media is pretty good now,” Kiner-Falefa said with a smile. “There is no baseball in my algorithm, a lot of blocks, and a lot of (tapping) ‘Not Interested.’ … It was just nonstop, so I found a way to make my algorithm no baseball, and ever since then, I haven’t seen it.”
Though his World Series moment didn’t occur with the Red Sox, the unique lived experience could lend insight into his new organization, which spent 86 years racking up similarly stunning last-second heartbreaks and unanswerable ‘What ifs?’”
Did Johnny Pesky hold the ball too long in 1946?
What if Jim Rice had been healthy for the 1975 World Series?
Bill Buckner.
Those moments still sting, but they paved the way for the Red Sox to do some truly, transcendently spectacular things.
Perhaps the same will be true for Kiner-Falefa.
“I just want a chance to get back there,” he said. “I won’t ever get over that. It’s more of, how can I get back? So I see this being a great opportunity to do that.”
Extra innings
Kristian Campbell will get most of his reps in the outfield but will continue to do infield work with coach José ‘Flo’ Flores. “I don’t think he’s going to play the infield, he’s going to play mostly outfield,” Cora said. “But we cannot forget about the infield part of it, because you never know what can happen.” … Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, and Anthony Seidler, the three players from Sunday’s Brewers trade, are expected to arrive in Fort Myers Tuesday night. Durbin and Marcelo Mayer will get reps at second, as the Red Sox begin to assess infield roles for a bevy of candidates. … The pitchers who are set to participate in next month’s World Baseball Classic threw live batting practice Tuesday, to give them a head start before they depart camp.
