Obstruction or Nothing

[mcrowder]

"R1 probably slowed down a little running to 2B"

Combine that statement with a fielder in the basepath without the ball... and that's all you need for obstruction.

"Is a player blocking base without ball when player is not close to base but is in direct path of bases?" That is not obstruction unless the act of being in the basepath without the ball caused a runner to alter her path.