A different take

[greymule]

grey...It was a touch for sure. Rodriguez grabbed Morgan with two hands (his right hand was around his waist) and then he pushed him toward HP.

Most definitely. That's why Morgan was called out. I was just wondering about a general case: whether OBR, like Fed, considers a touch on the shoulder to get the runner's attention to tell him to touch the base to be a physical assist. Or does it have to be an actual shove or something.

For those arguing for USC, you are talking about a penalty that can be applied in Fed, but OBR has not codified USC the way Fed has. Of course, the umpire can eject somebody if he judges the player deserved it, but he can't call a runner out for crashing the way he can in Fed.

Morgan was called out because a player who was not a runner physically assisted him to the plate during a play with, as Evans says, "urgency." I know that the rule mentions only the 3B and 1B coaches, but if it applies to them then it has to apply to others not engaged in the action on the field. Obviously the offensive manager can't run out of the dugout and push a runner back to 3B, and a runner who has scored can't physically assist, either.

I agree with RichMSN that the collision is nothing. But I'll go with 7.09(h).