Quote:
Originally posted by Buckeye12
Thanks to all for the info.
Bfair, I understand your comments, but like I said, that due to the circumstances, I felt like the BR could safely have reached 3B was there no obstruction by F3(actually the BR had already safely reached 3B when the ball was thrown into the infield). I didn't decide on protecting BR to 3B untill he rounded second and I saw that the fielder was just now throwing the ball to his cut-off.
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You can't protect him to a base merely because you feel he has enough speed to get there. There are other factors, including whether he can rightfully obtain possession of that base. That did not exist in your example, and therefore, he should not have been protected to 3B---regardless of how fast he was.
What would you have done in your play if BR hadn't passed R2, but was thrown out retreating to 2B while R2 made it safely back to 3B? Would you have awarded 3B to BR since that was your original "protection?" I hope not.
How could BR have reached 3B safely if R2 had possession of the base---obstruction or not? If R2 was already past 3B and then retreated, then you have to adjust your protection at that point depending on the play. If BR hesitates whatsoever
as a result of R2 heading back to 3B, I'm very unlikely to continue any protection of BR to 3B---or even back to 2B. His getting caught between 2B and 3B had absolutely nothing to do with the obstruction, but rather it was due to his choice to continue his advance when he had no guarantee that R2 would be advancing beyond 3B. The obstruction had no impact whatsoever on R2 in this play, and it was R2's retreat to 3B that caused BR to get hung out, not the obstruction.
Your decision to protect BR to 3B was far too premature.
Let the play runout and see how much impact the obstruction had on its outcome before making up your mind. One thing we know for sure is that in Fed the BR will get 2B minimum. That doesn't guarantee that R2 will get 3B. What if R2 held 2B on this fly that was dropped, but was then thrown out at 3B by F7 after quickly receiving his miss. Would you award 3B to R2 since you were awarding 2B to BR? I'd certainly hope not.
NOW, let's suppose that this was OBR rule and not Fed.
And suppose BR,
making a legitimate attempt to advance to 2B was obstructed by F3 as you indicated, but when BR got to 2B he found that R2 had held 2B thinking the fly would be caught. R2 didn't attempt advance after the drop because he knew F7 had a cannon arm.
Under OBR rule, would you award 2B to BR due to the obstruction?
I wouldn't. IMO, it was pretty stupid of BR to advance to a base that he couldn't have acquired even if the obstruction didn't occur. Since this was Type B obstruction in OBR, I'm not mandated to award a base, and BR is on his own to try to undo his own stupidity. Unfortunately, Fed will protect this act of BR's stupidity by guaranteeing an awarded base of 2B, even if R2 held 2B thinking he couldn't safely advance. So in Fed, as long as R2 would stay on 2B, R2 would then be awarded 3B due to awarding 2B to BR. However, if R2 was to break toward 3B after seeing BR at 2B, he's on his own to make it safely to a base. The obstruction did not impact R2.
OTH, let's suppose that R2 was going to attempt to advance to 3B, but tripped over F6 and returned to 2B. The lead runner has now been obstructed. In that case, I'm likely to award 3B to R2 if there was any thought in my mind that he could have safely acquired it, and there's a good chance I might award 2B to BR---even if he didn't try for it. I wouldn't expect BR to try for 2B with R2 retreating to the base, but I also know that he may have tried for it had R2 attempted to gain 3B. I will not provide the benefit of doubt to the offending team.
Consider what would have occurred had the obstruction not occurred, and after applying and mandatory awards, work from there considering what
actually occurred. That post obstructive evidence can provide you a lot of information to aid in your judgment.
Slowing down your timing is slowing down your thought process of your decisions. It's not slowing down when you announce a decision that you've already made too quickly......
Freix
[Edited by Bfair on Jan 24th, 2003 at 01:36 PM]