Mark Ellis’s Embarrassing Tootblan, Was Handled With Class

Looking back on veteran infielder Mark Ellis’s career, there were many fond and exciting memories on the diamond. However like any player, he also had his share of bad plays and embarrassing moments. Even when he made a bad play, M.Ellis always handled himself with grace and dignity.

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However M.Ellis might have lost some of his dignity points on this monster Tootblan back at the end of the 2012 season against the Giants.

Let me paint the scene for you if you’ve forgotten. The Dodgers desperately trying to keep pace in the NL Wild Card race, came into game 161 needing a win to pull within a game of the Cardinals. A loss meant elimination from the postseason. We probably should forget this painful moment, however I believe that Tootblans of this magnitude should always be documented.

The last three games of the season pitted the Dodgers against the Giants at Dodger Stadium. The Giants had already clinched the NL West division title, and were playing only for the sole reason to knock the Dodgers out of the playoff race and be jerks. And Jerks they were let me tell you.

Anyways, with the Dodgers trailing by a score of 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning, M.Ellis stepped to the plate and ripped an extra base-hit into the gap off of former Dodger Guillermo Mota. The ball skipped past center fielder Angel Pagan, rolling all the way to the wall. M.Ellis had an easy double, but he wanted more. Here’s where he gets greedy.

M.Ellis tried to leg his double into a triple, leading to one of the more painful Tootblans in recent memory for us Dodger fans. Pagan retrieved the ball and fired to relay man Joaquin Arias. The shortstop then fired the ball to fatso third baseman Pablo Sandoval. The overweight infielder tagged out M.Ellis, who flopped over third base like a fish.

That play was huge as Shane Victorino tripled immediately after that play. M.Ellis would have scored the tying run had he not Tootblan’d. The Dodgers would go on to lose the game 4-3, and were eliminated from the postseason.

Tootblans will come and go, but that was one of the more memorable ones. We still love you M.Ellis! We still hate you Pagan.