[dvellison]

The point is that he doesn't have to be in the basepath between the runner and the plate. He WAS in the legal basepath that a runner may legally enter. This is the reason that this play would have been legal even if MLB had a malicious contact rule. It wasn't malicious with the intent to injure, it was contact to avoid being tagged out.

It is the runner's responsibility to do everything possible within the rules to score. This includes making contact with the catcher within the legal basepath.

Catchers should adopt the Mike Scioscia mentallity. When a runner was attempting to make contact, Scioscia met the runner with the intention of hitting him with equal force to avoid having the ball dislodged.

It's the same in all sports, when one player is in motion and one player is stationary, the player in motion always wins.