The death of the neighborhood play...

[realistic]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

If the bolded part of this post was part of the "neighborhood play," it would not be called the "neighborhood play." The "neighborhood" part refers specifically to not touching the base, hence, "in the neighborhood of the base, which was precisely where Aybar was residing at the time of the horrific call by Jerry Layne. Your definition of "neighborhood play" is faulty, and not the way it has been called since, well, always.

Sorry Steve, you are dead wrong this time. Neighborhood plays have the fielder touching the base at some point but generally not when in possession of the ball. Aybar stayed on the backside of the bag to stay away from the sliding runner. He never attempted to touch the base. Jerry Layne is a very good umpire and had every right to call it the way that he did because he would be castigated now if he called it the other way. He said that he fielder didn't touch the bag and he was substantiated proof that he was correct. If the fielder would have touched the bag at some point, he could have said that the fielder touched the bag.

It doesn't matter how anyone else would have called it in their respective levels, this happened in the ALCS and that is the way it should have been called. Go ask Joe Saunders of the Angels. He will tell you.