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发帖数: 10208 | 1 They were all in agreement -- umpiring crew chief John Hirschbeck, third-
base umpire Jim Joyce, plate umpire Dana DeMuth and executive vice president
of baseball operations Joe Torre -- about the obstruction call against
Boston Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks that ended Game 3 of the
109th World Series and gave the St. Louis Cardinals a 5-4 win on Saturday
night.
It was the first time in Series history that a game has ended on an
obstruction call.
OBSTRUCTION RULE
The rule applied to the final play of Game 3 can be found in the Official
Rules of Major League Baseball, Section 2.00, Definition of Terms:
"Obstruction is the act of a fielder who, while not in possession of the
ball and not in the act of fielding the ball, impedes the progress of any
runner.
"Rule 2.00 (Obstruction) Comment: ... After a fielder has made an attempt to
field a ball and missed, he can no longer be in the
act of fielding
the
ball. For example, an infielder dives at a ground ball and the ball passes
him and he continues to lie on the ground and delays the progress of the
runner, he very likely has obstructed the runner."
"Just to go over the rule quickly, obstruction is the act of a fielder
obstructing a runner when not in the act of fielding a ball. It does not
have to be intent," Hirschbeck said. "There does not have to be intent, OK?
Once he has the opportunity to field the ball, he can no longer in any way
obstruct the runner. That's basically the rule."
During the play in question, Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia threw
wildly to third base in an attempt to catch baserunner Allen Craig after a
play at the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning. Craig, who had slid
into third, got up and headed toward home, but tripped over the legs of
Middlebrooks, who was face down on the third-base line after a futile
attempt to catch Saltalamacchia's throw.
The fact that intent is not required on the part of the fielder is important
because it eliminates any debate over whether Middlebrooks deliberately
lifted his legs in an attempt to trip Craig.
Joyce made the initial obstruction call.
"When the play developed after Saltalamacchia threw the ball at third base,
after the ball had gone straight through, and Allen had slid into third and
stood up to attempt to go to home plate, everything was off right there," he
said. "And when he tried to advance to home plate, the feet were up in the
air and he tripped over Middlebrooks right there, and immediately and
instinctually I called obstruction.
"The baserunner has every right to go unobstructed to home plate, and
unfortunately for Middlebrooks, he was right there. And there was contact,
so he could not advance to home plate naturally.
"With the defensive player on the ground, without intent or intent, it's
still obstruction. You'd probably have to ask Middlebrooks that one, if he
could have done anything. But that's not in our determination." |
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