MLB: June 2017

Firstly, i should have used the word “obstruction” and not “interference.” When a fielder impedes a runner, the term is obstruction.

The rule doesn’t make any distinction based on which direction the person is running. If obstruction occurs between the bases, you get the next base, which in this case, was home plate. The official language from the rulebook says:

In this case, the last base he legally touched was third, and it doesn’t matter that he was trying to get back to third when the obstruction occurred.

Learn something new every day.

Thanks for the explanation.

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Definitely obstruction (or interference, whatever, you get it). And nice base running there. That’s exactly what you’re taught to do in a run down; run into a fielder even if he’s only kind of in your way. That runner could have avoided Tulo, but managed to make contact while staying in the base path.

Avoiding Tulowitzki would have meant staying on the infield side of the baseline, pretty much conceding the tag by Martin who was chasing him, so no, not really, he couldn’t have avoided Tulo and kept the play alive at the same time.

Very heads-up baserunning in a bad situation.

Meanwhile, why on earth didn’t Martin throw to Tulo? Yeesh.

Nope. Don’t agree. Players should admire homers. You hit a ball 400+ feet off a major league pitcher, you get to celebrate a little. It’s a game, not a state funeral.

If you don’t want hitters flipping bats or admiring homers, throw better pitches.

I agree. Yet another one of those stupid “unwritten/unspoken rules” that ends up getting batters plunked and starting brawls.

In other news, my Reds have fallen off a cliff due to such shitty, crappy pitching. What a waste of a good offensive and defensive season.

The Orioles are getting crushed 14-5 in the 6th inning by the Rays.

Their pitchers have now equaled a Major League record, giving up 5 or more runs in 20 straight games.

They finally broke the streak.

Also, it’s not like it would happen all the time anyway. No all home runs are no-doubter moonshoots like Puig’s was; plenty of them only just clear the fence. If you stand and admire your shot, and it ends up falling short, you will look like a complete idiot, and get a reaming from your manager for not running the bases.

Yeah, but they’re back to form today, giving up 5 to the Rays before the end of the fifth inning. It’s really quite remarkable, given their pythagorean stats, that they’re only two games under .500. They should be three games behind the Blue Jays, in last place.

One of the many gratifying things about the season so far for an Astros fan is noticing that the Texas Rangers are badly underplaying their pythagorean. I guess they don’t understand how to man up and win the close games. They should maybe talk to the members of a team that were gutsy enough to win a lot of one-run games, such as the 2016 Rangers.

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Have we gotten to the point that players on other teams dislike him more than his own teammates?

It didn’t seem to me that Puig watched his home run ball significantly longer than baseball etiquette demands, but on the other hand I love that MLB players self-police to limit the dance rituals and other garbage that plague other pro sports.

*Wonder what would happen if Cam Newton chucked football to pursue dreams of becoming a baseball star?

Miguel Montero gets cut from the Cubs after criticizing Jake Arrieta in the media.

Pretty stupid of Montero. While it has been a frustrating season for the Cubs so far, they have a glut of catchers. I wonder if he knew that Caratini was getting called up soon and knew that he’d be DFA soon anyway
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Well, this way he gets to be sure that his perfect record with Chicago
stays intact: 31 stolen base attempts, and 31 successful steals!

I’m not sure having one guy in AAA is a “glut” of catchers, exactly, but honestly Montero might be better off this way, anyway; he’s a good enough catcher to get a crack at starting for some teams.

7 stolen bases? Sheesh!!! That’s almost as bad as Jon (run baby, run!) Lester.

Well, a glut assumes that they’re going to try Schwarber back at catcher. He damn well can’t play the outfield.
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It is perhaps indicative of Schwarber’s defensive capabilities that I complete forgot he ever caught.

I don’t think asking the guy to take on a WAY harder position when he’s trying to find the right swing to get up to the Mendoza line is a great idea. Schwarber isn’t really a .170 hitter and he’ll be fine.

In a sense, Schwarber kind of reminds me of Carlos Delgado. Like Schwarber, Delgado was a minor league catcher who was visibly capable of being a terrifying power hitter, but it became quickly apparent he wasn’t really capable of playing catcher at the big league level. Like Schwarber, Delgado was tried out in the outfield because there was a spot open for him there, and he was very bad at it. Like Schwarber, after Delgado’s first real taste he basically missed a whole year, albeit not to injury.

In Delgado’s case, however, a spot opened up because his team needed a DH, and after a year of that the Blue Jays inexplicably traded John Olerud for peanuts, thus cementing Delgado at first base. If you’re Kyle Schwarber, this is where the story gets alarming; the Cubs don’t need either of those things because they don’t us a DH most of the time and their first baseman is as good as Carlos Delgado and is signed through 2021.

You have to think at least one AL team has called up Chicago and asked what it would take to get Schwarber in their uniform, with the thought of taking away his glove and just telling him to go hit.

News just gets worse for the Cubs as Kris Bryant looks to be out for a while with an ankle injury
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