Comments on: Could 'the Neighborhood' use some gentrification?

By: leftylarry

leftylarry — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:29:17 +0000

The other Chris H: It’s not an out if he isn’t on the bag, if you want t make the 2nd baseman safer tell them to not turn the double play and just set up for one out otherwise stop bitching!

exactly!!!!!!!!!

By: The other Chris H

The other Chris H — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:21:51 +0000

It’s not an out if he isn’t on the bag, if you want t make the 2nd baseman safer tell them to not turn the double play and just set up for one out otherwise stop bitching!

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:13:32 +0000

I don’t believe them. If I was him, I’d answer the same way whether it was true or not.

Think about it, if they say ‘yeah, it’s OK to have your foot off the bag’ then they’re admitting to not enforcing the rule. They can’t say that, they’d lose too much credibility. They don’t want to be viewed as stretching the rules or even worse, being unable to see everything at all times. Of course they can’t always see everything, but admitting it publicly makes them look bad.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:07:54 +0000

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, interesting stuff.

By: Chris H.

Chris H. — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:41:59 +0000

How we’ll ever be able to distinguish between intentional and unintentional is beyond me. Also, how do you prevent “oversliding.” I get what he’s saying but that’s equally unenforceable.

By: Tom Gaffney

Tom Gaffney — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:11:00 +0000

Interesting counterpoint to your article in the NY Times today, here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/sports/baseball/19umpire.html.

“There is no such thing as the neighborhood play,” said Rich Garcia, a Major League Baseball umpire supervisor for seven years after spending 25 years in blue. “You either touch the base or you don’t.”

Mike Port, baseball’s vice president in charge of umpiring echoed those sentiments as well. They both said that the neighborhood play is a myth and if a player is called out when the infielder misses the bag it’s just simply a blown call, not a hidden rule.

By: Tom Gaffney

Tom Gaffney — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:59:45 +0000

Great photo. This would have been a monstrous issue if it had contributed to the Yankee win, so baseball is getting a bit of a pass here. It’s an interesting debate and you articulated both sides very well.

I’m not crazy about the vagueness of the edict to “make it look good,” but the other option isn’t great either. There is something sublime about the special second baseman or shortstop who can whip the ball sidearm as he glides across the bag to avoid the runner or the classic leap over the sliding runner. I think the neighborhood needs to at least be tightened up a little. In this era of emphasis of big, powerful middle infielders, we’ve lost a lot of the artistry of that position.

By: Joe O

Joe O — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:45:54 +0000

One of my first yankees games was in 1993 when the Indians hit into what appeared to be an inning ending double play in the top of the first with the bases loaded. Mattingly rolled the ball back to the mound and the Yanks walked off the field as three runs scored that inning because the short stop (Valarde I think) did not touch 2nd base. Yanks lost 3-1 that day and we were all upset. Valarde came much closer to 2nd base that day (I watched the replay like 4 million times) then Aybar did Sat night/Sun morning. Problem is MLB does not appear to have a phantom tag or neighborhood rule in the rule book (at least I can’t find it). While I am happy the call didn’t affect this game’s outcome (like it did at the game I was at as it is much better to win a game cleanly), the call strictly speaking is correct. Aybar did not touch the bag and he was more concerned with getting the throw to first quickly than avoiding the sliding runner. BTW the umpire at the game I was at is now a crew cheif – Tim Tscheida (and he has made a number of “make-up” calls for us in playoff games).