[mbyron]

I just posted a lengthy essay on obstruction on the baseball forum: the thread title is "Day 2," if you're interested.

The issue on this play is how far F5 misplayed the batted ball. If it's a step or 2, then he should still be protected. Contact with the runner in that case would be interference: dead ball, runner out, BR awarded 1B, and other runners return unless forced to advance.

If he had to move up significantly to field the misplayed ball, then F5 is guilty of obstruction (not interference). It sounds as if this was the ruling.

The correct award is to wait until the end of playing action unless the obstructed runner is put out. At that point award the obstructed runner bases to nullify the act of obstruction, but at least one base beyond the last legally touched base.

Since the play started with R2, R3, it was R2 who was obstructed by F5. At the end of playing action, R2 would be awarded 3B. If F5 picked up the ball and made a play on R2, then you'd kill it immediately and award bases. As I'm envisioning the play, R3 did not need to be awarded home; but if he hadn't scored by the time the play was killed, he would have been forced to advance by the award to R2. And in that case BR would be awarded 1B.

Assuming that the umpire ruled correctly that the fielder was not protected (because the misplayed ball was too far from him), it sounds as if this is all correct.