[CecilOne]

As stated: "The rule, as I read it, does not ask us to create a mythical ending of the play assuming a perfectly played ball that we then use to judge base awards. It simply asks us to judge "the base which would have been reached had there not been obstruction..."".

I would say that in either case above of weak defense, the runner would have made 3rd if not slowed down by the obstruction. There is no evidence of the weak defense being a reaction to the obstruction effect on the runner and even that is not mentioned in the rules as a factor. It is and will be "the base which would have been reached had there not been obstruction..." in my judgement.

As much as I respect the local UIC's and the NUS; there are times when answers don't make sense or are not clear. Determining the base to be reached a the time of OBS is often impossible, given things like the ball not being fielded yet, the runner falling down later, the speed of the fielder's release and throw, the speed of the runner, plays on other runners, various distractions, coaches' instructions, the bounce a low throw takes, etc. etc. etc. (thanks, Yul).

But I just realized that we do have to judge the effect of the obstruction at the time it happened in terms of time or steps lost so that it can be applied to the play. That definitely must be judged at the time it occurs, differentiating between a detour, a bump, a knockdown, etc., etc., etc.

[Edited by CecilOne on Mar 17th, 2004 at 02:57 PM]