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Rhubarb...
I was watching a MiLB game on the net today. AAA PCL, Express and Rivercats.
In top ten, squeeze play. 1 out. Right handed BR somehow bunts pitch high and tight which causes him to fall on his back. Ball is up in air in front of home plate. Catcher/batter tangle in a mess, as catcher is trying to field the ball. catcher eventually gets the ball. Pitcher also tries to field the ball and slides in for catch, ball lands, R3 scores. Catcher tags BR, getting up from ground, and R3. It looked like home plate umpire pointed ball fair, but does not call anything on the play other than the point fair.
He kills the play. Calls his partners in. They discuss the play for about five-ten minutes. Both Managers get involved in the discussion. After the discussion is over they call it a foul ball. According to replay they got the call right. However, they didn't have this luxury, so I'm wondering what the umpire was pointing at, and if it was foul, why not call that right off the hop...However, the foul call was right. So c'est la vies.
I just thought it was a great job by the crew getting together to get the call right, and de-escalate the situation in which the defensive manager was heated.
Had the ball landed fair, I'm curious to interpretations on what we'd have.
Who has priority here? The catcher fielding the ball? Does the batter have to hold up in the box to avoid the catcher leaving the catchers box to field a ball in front of home plate? Although in this instance the batter was laying on his back in the box. As the pitcher is also making an attempt to field the ball, could we have an argument for obstruction on the catcher? Or is this just a trainwreck? In which case R3 would score on the play, BR would be out on the tag.
If this is interference, R3 would be out in this situation as there's only 1 out. Correct? We have to punish the offensive team, and this would be the maximum punishment. 2 out, BR is out.
Overall, I'll agree with the commentator who stated: "I've never seen anything like that before."
I love this game.
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