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After reading some of the posts, I think we are all forgetting something. One of the most important things to consider on this play (and all plays for that matter) is the "division of responsibility". This is one of the main things that separate experienced and inexperienced umpires.
On this particular play (regarless if it's 2,3,4 or 6 man mechanics) U1's primary responsibility is safe/out call and the tag/no tag call at first base. The PU's primary responsibility is to trail the play at first and watch for running lane infractions and interference/obstruction calls.
With that said, the reality of that play was it was supposed to be a routine field and flip from the pitcher to the firstbaseman. The play obviously blew up into something totally different. Marsh's primary respnsibility on that was to see if there was a tag or not. In my opinion, the correct mechanic should have been to signal safe and vocalize "No tag" because it was not a legal tag (I've never heard of "no ball"). West, on the other hand, had nothing else to do on that play but to follow it up the first base line and look for the interference/obstruction. He is the one who should have banged the interference call immediately because he had the best look at A-Rod slapping the ball out of the glove.
Don't you guys think it's unfair to ask Marsh to be responsible for calling tag/no tag as well as interference/obstruction. After all, why have the plate umpire trail the play if he's not going to call anything? Personally, umpire pride wants us to get in the best angle to see the entire play and make the call by ourself. But the reality is we can't see all the angles of the play at one time. That's why we have "division of responsibilites" on the field - each umpire know's what to look for/at on any particular play.
Ofcourse, hindsight is 20/20 and while they may not have umpired that play by the book, atleast they did what the league asks of them - that is to get together and get the play right... and that they did. Personally, if West did what he was supposed to do, we wouldn't have had a 5 page discussion on this play. But as I said earlier, West sucked it up and went to Marsh and they got it right. Sometimes, it may not look pretty but they got the job done in the end. Just my amateur opinion.
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