Scott Cousins hit on Posey: Clean or Dirty?

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The Giants and Marlins are tied in the 12th inning, and the Marlins have runners on first and third with one out. After a fly ball to center field, Scott Cousins tags from third. The throw arrives ahead of Cousins, who launches himself at Buster Posey, leaving the Giants' catcher in a heap on the ground and himself safe with the eventual winning run.

so: clean play or dirty play?

 

this just in...

San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey has a broken bone in his left ankle, a source close to the situation told CSNBayArea.com on Thursday.

"It's way serious," the source told CSNBayArea.com, adding that x-rays taken after the play revealed the fracture, according to the report.

 

Pete Rose/Ray Fosse all over again....

LEGAL play but there is no reason that MLB should not make that kind of play illegal like it is in all other baseball levels. Why do they need to allow that kind of distructive play. NUTS!

 

Dirty Play

OMO it was a hard-nosed, but dirty play. The plate was available for the winning slide...Posey didn't even catch the throw. The shoulder blow to Posey's neck area looked bad and that could have caused a much more severe injury.

 

Posey out

I don't think a collision at the plate can be determined dirty or clean...at that level, it's just part of the game. How many times have you heard a coach say, "Go hard into 2B, break up the double play." YOu could break somebody's ankle with a slide like that. The reality of the situation is Cousins was playing TO WIN!!! Unfortunately Posey was injured...he's an outstanding player and it's unfortunate...but Cousins was doing his job.

I know that sounds very un-sympathetic, but Cousins was absolutely playing within the rules. I don't disagree at all that maybe the rule should be re-visited at the professional level...would probably be best. But I don't in any way blame Cousins for playing hard. And I know from experience that if you're going to hit a catcher, you make up your mind 3-4 steps before you do, and 3-4 steps before the hit, Posey was blocking the dish.

 

dirty as crap

did not even try to slide.......payback time

 

The last point....

I wonder what kind of lesson our KIDS will learn by watching this play!!!!!

 

Professional Opinion

I can't resist adding my views on this. I was fortunate enough to catch both in college and professionally. That being said, this is a ridiculous situation. No offense CM2010 but you are comparing this to a "hard slide" at 2B to break up a double play. It's not at all the same thing. If you want to compare the two ALLOW runners to run full speed (without a slide) and plow over the MIF! That's what's happening here. A defenseless fielder is being plowed into.

Most of these I see happen when the runner would have been better off sliding around the Catcher and being called safe. Very few occur as a result of a limited amount of space around the plate and a quick decision on the part of the runner. The ones I see are malicious and planned 30-45 feet ahead of time.

I've been run over. And I've handed out some nice "tags" of my own. I teach catchers at a local Baseball Academy. What I teach them to do when a runner looks like he isn't going to slide is to secure the ball in your mitt and cover it with your throwing hand and deliver a hard two-handed punch (much like the motion a Basketball Player would use in throwing a chest pass) and aim for the runners chin. Tagging a runner who isn't going to slide in this fashion is by far the most effecient way to keep them from running you over.

The real problem is when a runner is early and the ball hasn't arrived yet! Catchers are smart. They don't stand in the way of home plate, they move up and give the runner a lane to slide in (and be called safe). But instead you're seeing guys go two to three feet out of their way to initiate contact with a defenseless player. It's wrong and it should be outlawed. No debate and No discussion.

Thank you for allowing me to be heard.

 

ESPN reporting that Cousins didn't sleep last night saying "last thing I want to do is to break someone's leg."

now posey is out for the season.

i don't know -- it seemed to me as if there were a chance to slide and score the run WITHOUT launching himself at posey's head. the overhead camera view looks to show cousins moving away from the direct path to the plate just so he could hit posey.

wouldn't this be a $100,000 fine in the NFL?

 

good point and not to be missed.