Another look at Alexei Ramirez's evasive maneuvers

Alexei Ramirez provided a couple of bright spots during an otherwise unremarkable homestand when he swiped a pair of bases ... after he was picked off.

In both cases, he went on a lefty's first movement. In both cases, the first baseman made a crisp throw to second. Yet in both cases, Ramirez reached second safely thanks to some terrific improvisation.

Here he is fooling Mike Aviles with a traditional swim move last Wednesday:

And here he is eluding Ben Zobrist with the "Vitruvian Man" on Sunday:

I don't know if the White Sox or Major League Baseball keeps track of successful swim moves, but Ramirez still has his work cut out for him to match the recent-history mark.

Back in 2010, Juan Pierre pulled it off three times, and Pierre's successes were actually funnier, because he managed to sucker the same guy -- Starlin Castro -- twice over a two-week period.

Here he is on June 12, 2010:

And it's not just that Pierre got him again a fortnight later -- it's that Castro was somehow less prepared for it the second time around. His tag was so negligent that Pierre angled to do the full Matrix bend, and then aborted it when he saw it wasn't necessary.

Pierre found another sucker for the third occasion (that I can find, at least) on July 21 against the Mariners -- although he didn't fool Chone Figgins as much as he got second base umpire Jeff Nelson. The replay showed Figgins did tag Pierre on the shoulder with is second attempt, but Nelson only saw him miss with the first.

Unlike Pierre, though, Ramirez has to play both sides of the game at second base, and that makes the slide around Zobrist all the more special. Earlier in the game, Desmond Jennings tried to execute the swim move around Ramirez, but when you look at the way Ramirez applies the tag, it sure seems like he knows what's up.