Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy
As much as I hate to say it....Rule 10-1.
Before you all start in with the "judicious use of rule 10" stuff, are you really going to allow a fielder with the ball to intentionally trip a runner to increase the defense's chance to get an out? As I see it, the rules seem to have been written with the thought in mind that if a fielder with the ball and a runner are in close proximity, the fielder should just tag the runner to get the out. Manny's example, while I have never seen it, is a realistic situation that could and probably has happened. I'm ruling a dead ball, awarding the runner second base and potentially ejecting the defender for the trip.
From what I can see, this is a situation not specifically covered in the rules.
We had a similar play this last weekend, R1 on first, base hit to the outfield, R1 takes a big turn around second, ball is thrown to F4 who is on the right field side of second base about 6 - 7 feet. R1 starts to return to second, F4 moves to tag R1, R1 gets to the bag standing up a split second before F4 applies the tag. Since both players were coming from opposite directions, the force of the tag knocked R1 off of second base. F4 holds the tag on R1 off the base.
BU calls R1 safe, then dead ball and places R1 back on second.
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I would have ruled the same way on this. In this situation there was no intent to displace the runner from the base she had legally attained, but the defense did cause the runner to come off of the base. I am not penalizing the offense for a play in which they did what they should have done. I am not penalizing the defense for hustling to make a play either. Neither team is disadvantaged by ruling exactly what happened, the runner reached the base and was forced off the base she legally attained.
I did come very close to tossing a couple players last season over a similar call (men's SP, ASA rules). R1 on first, Be hits a single to right. Right fielder throws a shot to F5 covering 3b. The throw is slightly short, so the fielder has to step into the infield a couple steps. He catches it, and attempts to step back towards third base. The runner comes in, does a half-slide and pops up. As he pops up, his momentum carries him off the base. I call him out for coming off the base. The offensive comes unglued. The runner and the coach nearly get tossed arguing the call. I ruled the runners momentum, not the actions of the fielder caused the out.
An inning later, the wife of one of the players (someone I've known for years), comes over and tells me why they were so upset. Apparently the teams played the previous week and the defensive team was pushing players off the bases regularly on close tag plays. The arguing carried over from the previous weeks lack of calls by the umpire (this league uses a 1 man crew) for pushing players off the base on tag plays.