The death of the neighborhood play...
 

...bottom of the 10th in the Yankees/Angels game.

Best part was hearing McCarver rail against the call and claim that Aybar never touched the base all night and then the production crew went back and proved McCarver wrong.

Aybar never came close to the bag, either.

I thought the call was horsesh*t myself. If the throw doesn't pull the fielder off the base, he gets the neighborhood play. I've seen a lot more blatant examples of fielders getting the call than this. I think Layne was wrong.

Touch the freaking base.

I love, love, love watching them take an undisputably correct, here's-the-replay 40 times call and watching them twist it into the wrong call.

I'd love to be the crew chief in the press conference. My only comment would be "watch the replay -- did the fielder touch the base?" And then I'd repeat it as the answer to every question.

The neighborhood play is dead and buried.

And maybe now they'll shut up about A-Rod not being a clutch hitter. He just launched one.

Absolute horsesh*t.:D

Handcuffed him, too, and he still got enough on it to put it out....Beautiful hit!

If I were Scioscia, I would now come out on every DP the Yankees turn without touching 2nd base, which is routinely done on nearly every DP when the runner is bearing down on 2nd base. It is NEVER called the way Layne did it. Not ever! He is starting a new trend, I guess. A real Maverick.

Ah, but did you hear McCarver? Every other pivot at second base, the base was touched.

This wasn't a typical neighborhood play, either. Aybar didn't even move his feet, he just kept the base straddled.

Yes, McCarver always exaggerates. But I have seen much worse called an out on that type of play. They straddle the base quite often on the neighborhood play, and have done so for years. Without that call, I'd probably still be working some of the games I've done!;) I like outs. Calling safe on that play is foreign to me, unless the throw is bad. That's different.

The best part was that McCarver, as always, was caught in a lie. He swore Aybar straddled the bag on every other pivot and someone in the truck went back and looked at the other plays and he had to correct himself on the air.

Couldn't agree more..

No such thing as clutch hitters. ;)

The neighborhood is entered by touching the base at some point in the play and not have the throw pull them off and changing the rhythm of the play. It has to be touched at some point to get the neighborhood call.

And that's from an Angel diehard.

And A-Rod was not handcuffed. Good Lord. He got a pitch on the outer half and rode it out. He was slightly late, but he wasn't handcuffed.

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.

The death of the neighborhood play...
 

is greatly exaggerated.

(Apologies to S.L. Clemens)

I've got to admit... if this play happened in my game working two man, I've got him out and I'm not thinking twice about it. I'm calling him out and setting up for the play at first where I'm making my money. ;)