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Originally Posted by BlitzkriegBob
I understood that member to be saying that also. I was trying not to raise that point of view to see if anyone else shared that opinion, but since it's now out there I still can not understand how a runner can not be expected to slide in this situation. Especially as a former coach (and I know this shouldn't influence my opinion), I see both the offense and the defense doing exactly what I would have coached...except for the foot placement of F5. Defense has the inside, offense has the outside.
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Watch what you say - Mike will call you "heartless."
If the obstruction rule hadn't been changed and made more stringent, everything we're discussing with fielder's little tootsies in front of the bag wouldn't be much of an issue.
We all know that such things have traditionally been allowed for many years in softball (and
baseball for that matter). In fact coaches and fans would actually
commend a fielder for "blocking out" the runner and tagging her out. Catchers were
expected to "take away" part of the plate while awaiting a throw on an impending play. A first baseman would lay down her lag across the bag, completely blocking out the runner, as the catcher attempted a pickoff at 1st. It was all part of the game and everybody accepted it ... until now.
Some umpires still have that old view of obstruction indelibly planted in their brain. And some coaches try to take advantage of that. Which would be expected. It's the
umpires' job to force the adjustment to new standards through their enforcement, not the
coaches. When the umpires start calling it, the coaches and players will adjust. For better or worse, that's the reality of it.
A ship will maintain its current course until somebody applies a little pressure to the rudder. It's the
umpires who have to apply that pressure. It's not the
ship's fault that it is remaining on course.
David Emerling
Memphis, TN