Steve, I understand what your saying but didn't Posada HAVE to retouch third before he could have attempted to proceed to home plate? This means that if Cano was on third as McClelland thought (which he wasn't) that Cano was technically closer to home plate then Posada?

No, Posada had no obligation to retouch 3rd base. He had established his baseline when the catcher tried to tag him. He tried to tag Cano first, so there was no play being made on Posada until after that.

It's a simple equation of supply and demand. If there are still a lot folks who are willing to start the journey at Harry's or Jim's, do it for little money, with only a sliver of hope of it paying off, why change things? MLB umpires don't make <i>that</i> much money, considering what they have to go through to get there, and all the time away from home they spend.

Bottom line: You're already drawing from a shallow talent pool, given all you need to go through and endure to get to the Show. Plus, once you do get there, there's no incentive to maintain your skills, as it's nearly impossible to get fired.

[QUOTE=tibear;632234]Exactly what I was thinking....

Another angle.....Why is Cano protected from being tagged out if the Tim believes he is touching third base? It doesn't belong to him, it belongs to Posada. Does third protect both Cano AND Posada??

Basically, there should have been two outs regardless of what he "thought" he saw. Cano for being off the bag and being tagged or Cano out for passing Posada AND Posada out for being tagged off the base.[/QUOTE]

When in the heck did they pass each other.. did you watch the play?

[QUOTE=Umpmazza;632269]The question was asked as a result of what Tim McCelland had said. McClelland thought Cano was on third base when Posada had overrun the base. Given that scenario, I was wondering if that had technically put Cano "closer" to home plate then Posada and would result in an out as passing a runner.

Probably part of the problem of this play is that major league umpires rarely see this type of play and they take a lot of assumptions about the players being smarter than that and being on the bag.

All I can say to Tim McClelland, Welcome to our league!

Could you please expand on your interpretation there? My take is that he's then established his baseline between the preceding base (2nd) and 3rd. He has obviously retreated beyond the base at that point- and yes, he did touch the base with his foot.

Thanks.

Even if he touched the base, when he stepped off again, he can reestablish his baseline and it doesn't matter where he goes UNTIL he is avoiding a tag when a tag attempt is made. At that point he is locked into running between the bases and can only go 3 feet in either direction out of his baseline in order to avoid a tag. The fact that he was on the left field side of 3rd is irrelevant to the enforcement of this rule, similar to the "skunk in the outfield" play.

Posada shouldn't get high before games.