Scott Cousins hit on Posey: Clean or Dirty?

The court of TBR is now in session...

No one's mind is likely to be changed, but here are the facts.

• the ball was not caught, but the runner had no time to make that assessment
• players are taught to bowl over the catcher when the catcher is blocking the plate
• the catcher was in a good position to make the catch and apply a tag on a sliding runner, but he was not blocking the plate.
• the runner definitely veered left to create contact, even thought the plate was totally accessible for a traditional slide...feet first or head first with a hand touch on the plate.
• IMO, a good slide would have resulted in a close call, but safe.
• For those that say that was the best way to score the run, I say there are hundreds of other close plays at the plate that involve traditional slides and tags...not everyone is a head-hunter out there and choose to compete cleanly.
• If you look at the video you will see Posey drop his mitt to the dirt in anticipation of a slide, resulting in the runner going in high as Posey was collapsing his body to get low to make the tag. it could just as easy been a neck or head blow resulting in a bad concussion or worse.
• When I see Posey go down for the traditional tag, I see him making a clean play and expecting the same. What he got was a dirty play and it cost him his season and the first-place Giants their All-Star catcher.
• Verdict=DIRTY PLAY

 

amen

 

Low and Slow way to go. Your call is correct. I see Evil for what it is as well. That was pure Hell. Sad sad day for baseball.

 

I agree as far as the kids go but as far as the game goes there is no need for blowing up the catcher...it's a move of desperation and requires zero skill to make a calculated hit on the catcher as your are coming in.

 

A runner sliding hard into 2B trying to takeout a SS/2B is not even on the same level as this, for the simple reason this runner went airborne to blow up the catcher,,, nobody does that at 2B. Also at 2B, a middle infielder can make any runner get down as long as you got the ball in your hand. Someone asked about us older posters back in the 70's, I was told that when Im turning a DP, to just throw AT ANY RUNNER if he come at me,,, and it wasnt to hurt someone,,, but to protect ME. I never had that happen but one time,,, and when he went down instead of me, I knew somebody taught me something that I was thankful for.

In Poseys case, Posey had no chance. And Posey wasn't blocking the plate, Cousins had a clear lane to the plate. Cousins CHOSE to blow up Posey, and THAT is what most folks have a problem with.

Baseball (possibly more than any other sport) has a lot of unwritten rules. Shirttail in, hat on straight, you don't show up a pitcher after hitting a homerun, and you don't go out intentionally trying to hurt an opposing player.

Cousins just made a bad choice bottomline. He went out of his way to hit Posey, and THATS what I got a problem with. Dirty.

 

Ditto

 

Prince Fielder tried to blow up Whiteside for the Giants last night but he was ready for it. Fielder was out on the throw by 20 feet and came in trying to run Whiteside over. Whiteside gave him plenty of opportunity to get to the plate and Fielder went for the collision instead.

 

Chapter two

Ironically, two more plays at the plate occurred last night in the Brewers/Giants series. Lincecum fielded a swinging bunt and made a quick throw to the plate. The catcher was in a good position and part of the plate was available to the runner. The runner made an excellent slide and touched his lead foot on the plate just ahead of the tag. He was ruled safe on a very close play and the Giants manager was ejected for his protest of the call. On another play, Prince Fielder tried to score on a single to left and was intent on blowing up the catcher. The new Giants catcher, Whitesides, was ready for it and applied the two-handed push tag that AGuyYouKnow described earlier in this thread.

MLB is the most reluctant to change their rules, as they are considered part of the hallowed history of the game. The NFL is always tinkering with the rules of the game for safety or for more action (what defenders can do on pass coverage, length of kickoffs, etc). I don't expect MLB to outlaw blowing up the catcher until someone gets paralyzed.....a broken leg is not enough.