Holy smokes. Stop the presses. Get ESPN on the line. I actually agree with Jeff Passan for once in my life. His story is here on the whole Buster Posey, home plate collisions rules.
He makes the point that if it had been Giants backup catcher Eli Whiteside to have his ankle get crushed, everyone would say that sucks and move on. Fact fact fact. Just because it’s San Francisco’s golden boy who suffered this difficult injury and is lost for the season, that’s why people are flipping out over it. This is the typical over-reaction from Giants fans and other baseball people. Like this joke of an article by an “attorney and political consultant.”
The rule should not be changed. These plays are few and far between to merit a rule change. It’s a runner and a catcher making split-second decisions at home plate with the game on the line.
People argue that Posey missed the ball and never had it when he went for the tag of Marlins outfielder Scott Cousins. You think Cousins knew that? He’s running in full speed trying to score a run to win the game and sees Posey reach over at the last second for the tag. He is taught to run the catcher over and separate him from the ball to score that run. It’s part of the game, and it’s a clean play the whole way. Injuries are also a part of a game and this one is a tough one, but it should not be changing the competition and the way the game is played.
As Mike Krukow would say during a Giants broadcast: “Grab some pine, meat.”
May 28, 2011 at 6:39 PM
Posey wasn’t blocking the plate. Posey was on one knee a few feet in front of the plate (well outside the front of the batter’s box, biased towards 1b).
Cousins was tagging up so had full view of the play. As he ran down the line he had changed direction about ten-fifteen feet from the plate to plow into the catcher. In other words, Cousins stopped running towards the plate in order to collide with a fielder not in the base path who did not have the ball.
The hit was against MLB rules for all these reasons, but the rules are not enforced at the plate as they are at other bases.
Manly men, apparently, think blindside spearing of prone, stationary players who cannot affect the play is good for, or a necessary part of, the game.
Manly men ought to stop watching baseball (where the “pussy” Giants are World Champions) and watch the manly NFL. I mean, you guys love man-on-man contact so much, just devote yourselves to the sport where that’s the point. Position yourselves with hands tucked up into the crotch of your center. Then feel the gratifying tingle of a violent collision. That your fat self is watching on TV.
Except, one problem: In the NFL, hits of this type have been outlawed since Jack Tatum paralyzed Darryl Stingley (who also did not have the ball). It’s a penalty, and if the damage is severe you’re fined and/or suspended for a hit like that in the manly NFL.
Adjust your brains. When a catcher has the ball and sets up in the basepath, blocking the plate (as Eli Whiteside did last night against Prince Fielder), ok, you may get a collision — although, just as is true at the other bases, a hook, fade, or even the dread head-first slide is more likely to score. And tossing an elbow at the fielder’s face a few feet in front of the base, as Fielder did, is still illegal (but, again, never called at home).
Meanwhile, crashing at full force into a fielder on his knees outside the basepath and facing away from both the runner and the base is both dirty and against MLB rules, regardless of whether those rules are enforced at the plate and despite the brain-dead “it’s always been this way” arguments. Calling it a “clean play” is a desperately technical dodge.
It’s a stupid play that adds nothing to the game.
May 29, 2011 at 9:34 PM
Thanks for the comment. I think you really have to step back for a second when people start throwing around possible rule changes. That kind of play doesn’t occur often enough to merit a change in my opinion.
The runner is making a split-second decision while the catcher is doing the same. There’s a way you can protect your catcher by just not blocking the plate anymore and try a swipe a tag. If I were a manager, I would tell my catcher that protecting himself is more important than a single run.
But you open up another problem when players begin pulling up to go in soft and avoid contact, which can lead to injuries as well. It’s a fast, tough game and injuries will happen. I think if you listen to what former ML catchers have been saying all week is they would not change the rule one bit.
May 30, 2011 at 1:49 AM
I’m not calling for a rule change. Just enforce existing rules at home plate. If Cousins had done the same thing at first (or any other) base, he’d have been ejected, suspended, and fined. Home base is not exempt from these rules. The “it’s part of the game” crowd, who claim to be traditionalists, excuse and even champion ignoring the rules.
May 30, 2011 at 1:14 AM
Hilarie is absolutely right. There was nothing “clean” or “legal” about this collision. Cousins deliberately lowered his shoulder and speared Posey full force when he had a clean lane to the plate. There is no “rule change” required. What’s required is for the umpires to enforce the rules as they currently stand. Why is this concept so difficult for some to understand?
May 30, 2011 at 3:21 AM
How hard is it to understand that Posey was not blocking the plate and was attempting a swipe tag? As hard as watching a 15 second video. Yet the “blocking the plate” argument keeps coming up. Posey was trained to go up the first base line in these situations. He did so. You know the old joke, who are you gonna believe, me or your own eyes? Who are you gonna believe, your (moronic) bias or your own eyes?