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Originally Posted by BlueLawyer
Dude- I've been saying this all along. See the above posts.
Ruling that any runner who doesn't get down 6 feet from 2nd, 10 feet from 2nd, halfway, etc., etc., is AUTOMATICALLY guilty of interference is very, very dangerous territory in my view. The defense has every incentive to plunk the guy every single time. The FPSR is not designed (a) to endanger the runner or (b) give the defense a cheap double play. Carl's right. You can refuse to reward the defense for bad play while STILL enforcing the FPSR and protecting the defense's right to try to turn a legitimate double play if you exercise judgment and common sense.
Strikes and outs!
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It isn't dangerous territory close to the base. I don't know how you and SDS think that runners should not be sliding when they are 10 feet from the base. SDS even went so far as to say a runner who starts sliding 6 feet from the base will not reach the base. I understand that saying the runner must slide if he is X feet from the base is a tough thing to do, but we all know when the runner is close enough to the base to slide. If the runner is close enough to slide, but is not sliding or avoiding the play he is intentionally trying to obstruct the play in some way. Runners aren't stupid, they know they have to slide. They don't go in standing up for no reason.
Calling interference is not encouraging the fielder to throw at the runner in any way. How often do you see runners going in standing up anyways? When the occasional runner goes in standing up, call the interference and no runner on that team will ever going in standing up again. But not calling it encourages the runner to go in standing up. They will realize that they can gain an advantage by either deflecting the throw or forcing the fielder to throw around them. Eventually the one of the fielders will get pissed off and throw the ball right into the runner's face.