[Tru_in_Blu]

I was watching Red Sox @ Yankees on Fox today. At one point, Yankees had runners at first and third and one out. I think it was on a 3-2 pitch that the following occurred: runner from 1B took off on the pitch which was a close pitch. A-Rod, thinking it was a ball, or hoping to get the call from PU took a half step toward first. Catcher began to throw but initially aborted the throw until he saw the runner from 1B not at second yet and then made a throw.

PU called A-Rod out on a called third strike. Then he ruled that A-Rod obstructed the catcher and the runner who was now on 2B was declared out. The catcher was credited with an unassisted put out.

Play-by-play reads as follows:
- Yankees third.
- Jeter was hit by a pitch.
- Damon flied out to center fielder Ellsbury.
- Teixeira singled to center, Jeter to third.
- A.Rodriguez struck out.
- Teixeira was out advancing, catcher Martinez unassisted, Teixeira out.

They kinda made a big deal of this during the game because the Yankees had stolen something like 8 or 9 bases in a row over a game and a half.

Tim McCarver and his broadcast partner started to explain the call as interference, but then went back on themselves and said it was obstruction. They further described obstruction as something done by an offensive player and interference as something done by a defensive player.

My question is if they totally kicked this one, or if baseball is indeed the reverse of our softball definitions of OBS/INT? They played a replay "sounds of the game" and the PU was miked and after the catcher did finally make a throw, you could hear him say "that's obstruction". So I don't know if the umpire led them down the wrong path or what. Same PU called a foul tip on a check swing that was a good five inches away from the bat. Claims he had the ball ticking the bat which was clearly not the case.

I believe if the same scenario played out in an ASA game, I'd have batter out on called strike three and because of INT by a retired BR, the runner on 3B would also be declared out. Not so sure how I'd mark it in the scorebook if'n I needed to: 2U or 5U?