4 man and Obs at 2nd
 

Anybody see this, I'm thinking Tue or Wed night?

I was channel surfing and came across "partial" replay, so I'm not clear what the entire situation was or if an obs call was made?

GB to the right side, fielded to 1B.

I'm making an assumption here but; R1 rounded 2B hard heading for 3B (my assumption being a shift was on and nobody was covering 3B?).

R1 did not slow down but rounded 2nd hard and ran smack dab into whomever was covering 2nd (F6 or F5?) I don't know but it doesn't matter.

What I found quite odd was BU2 never took his eyes off the ball being fielded to 1B, didn't look to see if R1 touched 2nd, and certainly didn't see the a.. over tea kettle spill the runner took from the collision with the "trying to get out of the way" defender.

The runner rises to his feet and continues towards third the defender a step or two in front of him as BU2 finally turns his head back for a look, see's nothing and turns back to find the ball, that was the conclusion of the replay.

So couple questions for you 4 man crews:
1. Was BU2 just slacking or was he relying on BU3 to make note the R1's touch of 2B and to look for any OBS?
And

2. Was anything called?

1. Not enough information.

2. Not enough information.

Phillies/Washington. Obstruction was called and the runner was awarded third by the third base umpire (who probably also called the obstruction).

Makes sense to me for U3 to pick up the runner rounding second.

Huh?

Video: MLB.com Gameday | MLB.com: Gameday

It's the 2nd play shown.

A little depressing to see that, where the link takes us to, both the written account and the announcers' descripton refer to this as interference.

It doesn't surprise me anymore.

Not going to say its impossible for BU2 to see that INT, but it certainly would be alot easier from the outside as was the positioning many years ago. Ball is primary responsibility of course, and with the INT happening on the backside of BU2, its going to be tough to really see. In fact, if he did see the whole thing, I'd wonder why he abandoned watching the ball.

Good job by U3 to realize U2 wasn't in a good spot to see it and jump on it. And correct mechanic as this is type B, do not kill until play is made on that runner. Nice to see the MLB guys get this right since they see it far less frequently than we all do...

First off, it's OBS, not INT.

Secondly, I've never known U2 to set up outside with R1. Granted, I haven't studied video of baseball of previous eras, but this video (click on the Video Clip, located on the right side, near the bottom) of Lou Brock shows U2 inside the diamond.

Thirdly, even if U2 was outside, he's still probably going to miss the OBS. His eyes, as you mentioned, are on the ball AND the play occurs after 2B. U3 has the best view, as he's at 3B watching the ball being fielded, which puts OBS in direct line of his watching the play.

About 25 seconds into this video:

Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | MLB Network Remembers: Maury Wills - Video | MLB.com: Multimedia

In the same video you see an umpire taking this play from behind, from deep C, and standing right in the cutout.

AL was one way; NL was the other.

Later in the video, another umpire is inside. Was it a preference thing?

I thought the same, but in the video I saw an NL umpire inside and a different NL umpire outside. Maybe it was personal preference at one point.

Rather than correct it in my post, I'll eat my crow. Obviously the play in question was OBS and not INT as I misstated.

You are slipping up!:)