I wasn't involved in this game due to the Marlins getting a bye, but I do have a personal comment on this. In the Marlins game vs. the Mets earlier this year in what was a close game, I was on third (the tying run) and a ball was hit to shortstop. As I was running home I saw the catcher moving up the line towards me. As I got almost to home there was no way I could possibly slide I ran (more like walked fast) in the catcher who was about 6'3. Most of you guys know me and first of all I'm 5'9 and second of all I never tried to take anyone out at home. Anyway, the ball was overthrown to the backstop. I was called "out" because of the "slide" rule. I didn't barrell the catcher over like what happened in the Cubs-Yankees game. As long as I've been in this league, that has been the rule. IS THERE A "MUST SLIDE" rule or not. That cannot be the rule in one game and not another. If you're an umpire in this league you have to know "our" rules not the California Penal League rules.
As a catcher for years, now, I can unequivocably say that the "slide or give up rule" is a weak rule to put in place. It forces an umpire to make a decision based upon very little fact about what happens in a given play. OFTEN times these plays are of the quick-natured variety and in the heat of competition. An umpire should be calling balls and strikes - safe and out - balk - etc.; not whether or not in his opinion a player should or should not have slid.
Put yourself in the umpire's shoes for just a moment on one of these plays. It is a very difficult call and no matter how that umpire rules, he or she is going to offend one of the players and subsequently one of the teams will feel slighted.
Taking this one step further: as a catcher, with this rule in place, what - oh what, tell me - is going to stop me from standing on top of the plate - or better yet, five feet up the baseline - knowing that you cannot touch me? I'd stand in front of every runner coming down the line knowing that if he or she initiates contact, that runner is out; and all I have to do is make it look to the umpire that I am ready to receive the ball for a play at the plate.
The "slide or give up rule" gives a distinct advantage to the defensive player (not just the catcher). I say, let the play happen and let the defensive player accept responsibility for standing in the way of on-coming traffic.
I am 5'11 and 190 lbs soaking wet with a brick in my pocket and I accept the fact that if I stand in the baseline, there is a distinct possibility that I am going to get run-over and I live with the consequences should he (or she) decide to run me down. A defensive player has every opportunity to sidestep a runner and tag him or her on the way by, why is the onus put on the base-runner? It's not "California Penal League Rules," it is spirited competition. Contact is a part of the game of baseball.
Umpires should not be forced to make the decision as to whether or not a person should have slid in a given circumstance. The moment you allow ambiguity into your rules, people will find the loopholes and take advantage of them.
The rule is not clear and there is no possible way to ensure that the rule will be crystal clear as to how an umpire should govern these situations; the rule is weak and should be repealed.
Here's the deal "Hurricane": Your arguement about causing the umpire to make a tough decision makes no sense. One of the direct results of the "must slide rule" is to take the decision out of the hands of the umpire. If the runner slides in anyway he can be called safe. If he does not slide, whatever his intention, he is out and ejected from the game. It couldn't be any simpler. Now giving the advantage to the catcher is a silly arguement as well. As the catcher, your focus is on catching the ball. Meanwhile, the runner has a full head of steam and the ability to pick his path. It is dopey to suggest that the no slide rule will allow a catcher to tackle a runner as he is trying to score. Certainly, it allows an umpire to use his common sense to rule in favor of the runner if he slides and the catcher prevents him from reaching the plate while not in possession of the ball. It's called base runner interference. That's a much easier decision to make than: What was the runners intent when he threw the shoulder into the side of the catchers head? It is a moot point anyway!!! We have been playing under the "must slide rule" for as long as we have been associated with the MSBL. The point is that the rule wasn't enforced properly and we have to make sure that it is, even if it is inconvenient for us to go back to that spot in the game next Saturday to get it right before we can move forward with the rest of the playoffs. It is as "black and white" as I have ever seen in a protest. It was a rule interpretation that wasn't applied correctly. That is why protests exist. I relish physical contact as well. That is why I am glad that they have not legislated out sliding hard and clean into a base or home plate to break up a double play, but this play has been legislated out of our league for a long time. If you have a problem with that, you should be writing Steve Sigler at MSBL.com. You will get a chance to prove that the Yankees are the better team. It is not like you forfeit the game. We will just have to go back to the spot of the collision, apply the rule correctly, and finish the game from that point. See you Saturday, Hurricane.
Dude, why all of the hostility? I don't play for the Yankees. I even go out of my way on your post to tell you that I have read your material intently and your points of view are very well founded. I don't attack you or your assessment of how the rule should be enforced. You're 100% right; the runner is out according to the league's rule.
I am questioning the merits of the rule itself, not the outcome of the game (and I must say that I don't call any of your arguments "dopey" or "silly" - I am trying to point out that the RULE is weak - I'm not attacking you). I have in the past and will continue to take advantage of weak rules like this one. In leagues that have rules like this, I stand about three feet (or so) up the baseline to line-up my throws from infielders. This technique not only takes takes sliding out of the picture, it forces the runner to go around me to avoid contact, giving him a greater chance of missing the plate on his way back around as well as gives the umpire an opportunity to call him out for running out of the baseline. While it may be unfair to say that the runner is out for running out of the baseline, the no-contact rule puts that call into play and gives the umpire that option. You point out in your argument, "Certainly, it allows an umpire to use his common sense to rule in favor of the runner if he slides and the catcher prevents him from reaching the plate while not in possession of the ball." Do you really want to bring up umpire "common sense" here and now, after you attacked the umpire's "ignorance"? After all of the posts I read in here all season long, complaining about umpire rulings? A few of the members of this league have done nothing but complain about umpire rulings all-season, and your suggestion is to allow the umpires to have more latitude when deciding something like this? The point of a rule such as this is to avoid having ambiguity. Ambiguity leads to bad umpiring which, in turn, leads to hostility which, in turn, leads to players being thrown out of games unnecessarily for arguing.
All I am trying to do is say that the rule is weak and needs to be addressed. I am not attacking you or argument that you should have the game re-played, you absolutely should according to the rule as it stands now. But when you lash out and insult, it reads like "sour grapes" - the senseless bantering of a guy who's just mad because his team lost.
