Another Einstein in the 3B coach's box

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by aceholleran

R2 was inches from 3B when he was obstructed. He may have even touched it during/before the OBS. It being small ball, and judging where F6 was with the ball, I MAY have protected R2 to home, if he had kept going in a continuous effort.

There was absolutely no way defense could have thrown out R2 as he reached third, so he didn't need protection into the base. It is a salient point that I could have protected R2 back INTO third. YHTBT.

I read the initial post with your intent in mind, and discarded the details on the OBS.

However, the more you elucidate, the more it sounds like you're missing some of the important facets of the OBS rule.

First ... there's no "MAY have protected" nonsense - either you would have or you wouldn't have. If you truly WOULD HAVE protected R2 to home had he kept going, then by rule your award SHOULD HAVE simply been home. There are no cases where you would protect a runner to a particular base ... and then not award that base on the basis that he didn't attempt to reach that particular base. What you've basically done here is given the defense an advantage due to the OBS - saying that since he stumbled or slowed due to the OBS and didn't attempt the base you were protecting to, he no longer gets the base. This is hard enough to teach out of newbies. I certainly didn't expect such logic from you.

Second ... it's your JOB to determine whether the OBS occurred before or after the base. If you're protecting him BACK to third, you've ruled that the OBS occurred after third, and you HAVE to protect him to home and award him home. This is not ASA softball, where the option protect between bases and award the prior base exists.