Thread: WS obstruction
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Old Mon Oct 28, 2013, 08:03am
scrounge scrounge is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rbmartin View Post
I don't like this call. I don't think it is realistic to expect the fielder to evaporate after an unsucessful attempting to field a ball.
Furthermore, in my judgement the fielder did not "continue to lie on the ground" since he had only been there for a fraction of a second.
Just because you can call obstruction doesn't mean you should call obstruction.
About the only good thing about this play is that is may serve to educate idiot fans (and announcers) the difference between obstruction and interference. Otherwise, I just don't like this application of this rule.

p.s. no fanboy here since I dislike both teams equally.
Make a better throw or catch the ball if you want the right to stand in the basepath. Didn't do that? Well then you've forfeited your right to be in the way, even for a millisecond. Easy call.

Do you have the ball? Nope. Are you about to field the ball? Nope. Did you impede the runner in any way? Yep. We're done here.