Quote:
Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve
Oh, like he was never the beneficiary of such a call during his career. 
It's all because Layne and others don't want to be made to look bad on replay, which IMO has done more harm than good for umpires in recent days. |
He may have benefitted, but since he said he did not believe in it I expect he did not expect it. Go to the truck and review the video and tell us of a case where he argued because he did not get it when he really did not come close to touching the base.
As long as ML baseball allows a runner to maliciously steam roll the catcher the argument for the neighborhood call, to protect middle infielders is weak. They are big boys too, and unlike the catcher, they can get out of the way after making the touch.
I don't think any of them want to be proven wrong on slo-mo, that is an excellent point and excellent reason not to call the neighborhood play on national TV during an ALCS.
I will admit I have made the neighborhood call and never been questioned on it. But I believe my neighborhood is a bit closer than this one. Touch the bag, sometime during the play, drag a foot, do something to make it appear you touched the bag and you have a better chance of getting the call. Straddle it, with good distance between your feet and the bag and you get what you get.