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The batter can't be required to disappear when there's a pinball game going on behind him at the backstop. Sure, he needs to try to back away. But if he makes an attempt to vacate, that should be enough to protect him from INT.
Let's put a lot of the blame where it belongs. The pitched ball is shooting around the backstop, here fellas. You really need to make a strong case for the batter getting in the way. It's the defense that caused all this mess in the first place. |
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This is just wrong. If the batter does not have time to vacate because the play happens to fast, the onus is on the defense. But in a play like the OP, the batter has plenty of time to find the ball and get out of the way. Failing to do that by either negligently standing in the batters box while the play develops around him, or by moving TOWARD the ball and making the play more difficult is interference, plain and simple. If they have time to move, they MUST get out of the way.
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I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, 'I drank what?'” West Houston Mike |
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What I would like to know from the OP is whether the throw would have gotten to the plate if it had not hit the batter, or whether it was way off line when it hit him. That's actually more relevant than the batter's distance from the plate. If the throw was way off line, then I would not have called BI. If it was not off line and the batter was negligently in the way, then I'd agree with the call of BI.
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Cheers, mb |
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"I don't think I'm very happy. I always fall asleep to the sound of my own screams...and then I always get woken up to the sound of my own screams. Do you think I'm unhappy?" |
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Every one can get a "brain fart". For example, when I first read the OP, I visualed a poor throw by F2. But that didn't jive with the responses given, so I went back and read it again. On a second read-through, I think the key phrase is, "Play would have been close at home plate." It could only have been close if it was a quality throw, so that changed my visualization of the play completely, and I have BI here too. Batter should have looked to see where the ball really went; a couple steps up the line would have cleared the throwing lane.
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The batter vacated the area around the plate. Unless he interfered with a player attempting to make a play, I've got nothing.
The batter has to interfere with a fielder's ability to make a throw, receive a throw, or attempt to tag a base or runner, to be guilty of interference. Ten feet from the plate, he didn't interfere with F2's ability to make a throw from near the screen, and based on the OP saying the play would have been close, F1 or whoever was covering home must have been well removed from the batter, so the batter didn't interfere with that fielder, either. Interfering with a thrown ball is far different than interfering with a fielder's attempt to make a throw or receive a thrown ball. The batter must vacate the area around home plate so as not to interfere with the PLAY. He did. If he interferes with the THROW, it must be intentional. You got it wrong. |
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Away from the plate is irrelevant. The batter moved TEN FEET toward the ball and got in the way of the play. That's all that matters. The batter needs to get OUT OF THE WAY. Distance away from the plate means nothing. All that matters is that the batter get out of the way of the play.
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I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, 'I drank what?'” West Houston Mike |
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Guilty. BI. |
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