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Last night Chase Utley broke Ruben Tejada's leg in an effort to break up a double play. It is more or less standard baseball. A few years ago Buster Posey's season was ended with a crash at the plate. There is and was a lot of discussion about whether the plays are dirty or crossed some imaginary line. The problem for me with that is that the plays are allowed by the rules and encouraged so I can't blame the guys for doing what is legal and expected.
Shouldn't baseball make rules to eliminate those sorts of plays? Football, a violent game that revolves entirely around crashing into other players has added rules to protect players from unnecessary injury. (I'd say they go too far sometimes. I hate seeing defensive players flagged for hitting a guy in the head when he ducks and puts his head out front so the defensive player has little other target or has no time to avoid the hit.) Baseball is not about collisions so why do the rules encourage and allow them?
One odd thing about this issue for me is that I typically am conservative and traditionalist about stuff. I'm not a big fan of making things too easy/soft, getting overly protective and stuff like that. I just don't see the point in baseball collisions though.
I'd like to see the rules make it illegal for the defender to deliberately block the plate or a base and for it to be illegal for the runner to target a defender with a slide or attempt to crash into them. It wouldn't be necessary if defenders couldn't block the plate. Slides should have to be directly toward the bag or plate, or made so as to avoid the defender rather than initiate contact.
What are others' thoughts on the topic?
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/10/11 16:25:15
In the Posey situation, they DID change the rules. They also somewhat changed the rules for 2nd and 3rd base slides, IIRC.
The thing is, if this were a regular season game and Utley did that, we're probably talking a bit of suspension time and the like. But, because it's playoff baseball, we have this thing just like hockey does, where certain rules seem to simply "go away".
Don't think the Posey change is enough though. I guess the rules can be applied to make Utley and the batter both out the way the pay went down and the issue really is enforcing the rules. NFL comes out with points of emphasis when they get too slack enforcing the rules. I would like to see baseball do that.
I hate changing the rules because it's the playoffs too. They do that in NBA and I don't like it there either.
The game is better when the best players are out there not when they are injured because the rules or umpires refuse to protect them.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/10/11 21:50:42
Gwaihirsbrother wrote: Don't think the Posey change is enough though. I guess the rules can be applied to make Utley and the batter both out the way the pay went down and the issue really is enforcing the rules.
Except the rule, as changed goes that the catcher MUST be off the base path at home.
At second, the runner must initiate his slide prior to the base, and must slide in the base path and must stop his slide at the base. As for the fielder, there's really only so much he can do, aside from the time honored tradition of making a jump-throw, or "eating it" because the ONLY time these sorts of things come up, is when the defensive team is attempting to turn a double play.
I'm with cincy on this one... I think it's a fething stupid rule, and one that should never have been made. In the 100+ years of baseball, how many major league catchers have broken a leg whilst blocking home plate?
This isn't a rule about making the game "safer" the way banning the spit ball and changing the ball out were when they were implemented.
My understanding of the Posey rule is that once the catcher has the ball he can block the plate, but can't before he has it unless it's part of trying to catch the ball.
Posey getting hurt and now Tejada isn't why the rules (or failure to adequately enforce them) bother me. I don't like seeing people senselessly risking severe injuries. I cringe every time I see plays like that. And its not because I want everyone wrapped in marshmallows.
Alpharius wrote: We're probably going to see a 'must initiate slide before the bag' rule put in after the playoffs, I'd imagine!
It's already in place... IIRC, it was mentioned in the Cubs/Cards first game, because one of the players got to second base and flopped down in a "slide"... The commentators were talking about the rule, as well as the player's "slide" technique.
I did not cringe and shiver watching that as I did when Theisman had his ankle snap by Taylor
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Alpharius wrote: We're probably going to see a 'must initiate slide before the bag' rule put in after the playoffs, I'd imagine!
It's already in place... IIRC, it was mentioned in the Cubs/Cards first game, because one of the players got to second base and flopped down in a "slide"... The commentators were talking about the rule, as well as the player's "slide" technique.
Regardless of the ethics of the play, I don't think I'll shed any tears if one of the Cards winds up with a broken leg...
Alpharius wrote: We're probably going to see a 'must initiate slide before the bag' rule put in after the playoffs, I'd imagine!
It's already in place... IIRC, it was mentioned in the Cubs/Cards first game, because one of the players got to second base and flopped down in a "slide"... The commentators were talking about the rule, as well as the player's "slide" technique.
Yeah, but expect a 'point of emphasis', change or...clearer definition.
