"In the sixth inning Saturday night, with two strikes on Justin Upton and Kelly Johnson on first, Diamondbacks Manager Kirk Gibson called for a steal. Livan Hernandez threw a curveball, which Gibson had anticipated – "I had him running for that exact reason," Gibson said.

Upton swung over the curve, which necessitated catcher Wilson Ramos putting his mitt on the dirt to catch, in front of his left foot. As Ramos caught the ball, he brought his right forward and rapidly hopped into a throwing a position. He grabbed the ball from his glove and whipped an incredibly quick throw to Danny Espinosa, covering at second base. He applied an easy tag on Johnson, and another would-be base stealer jogged back into the dugout.

"We ran on a breaking ball down in the zone," Gibson said. "And he cut us down, sliced us up."

Johnson was not an easy mark – he had stolen eight bases this year without being caught before last night. He is also by no means the first base runner whom Nationals catchers – either Ramos or Ivan Rodriguez – have sliced up.

Ramos has thrown out 9 for 21 base runners this season, and that 42.9 percent rate is the best in the majors. Rodriguez has thrown out 6 of 15. Combined, their 42-percent success rate in throwing out runners ranks best in the majors. "