Good call, poor mechanics ..Hawk's still a DB!

[Thunderheads]

Thank God Hawk's partner has some sense of knowledge about the rules ....

 

I was watching this live as it happened and said, ..."OH that's obstruction! Ventura's gonna get tossed, watch!"

 

http://wapc.mlb.com/play/?content_id=29062795&query=ejection

 

http://wapc.mlb.com/play?content_id=29062795

[scrounge]

If I was Ventura, I'd try to get thrown out of every game in the first inning.....ugh.

[maven]

I don't like that call. Hunter was too close to the base to divert into the fielder. He had an unhindered opportunity to return to 1B, but he chose to divert into F3 instead. That contact did not represent obstruction because his advance (return) to the base was not hindered by it.

 

OTOH, I'm not invoking 7.08(a) either, since his diversion was not an attempt to avoid a tag. It was an attempt to draw an OBS call. I would have left the ball live, signaled safe/"that's nothing" (if I were really on top of it), and called the runner out when he was tagged.

 

This play is quite different from a play 45 feet from a base where a runner turns around and bumps into a fielder as he is establishing his new base path. That's OBS all day.

[JaxRolo]

I think it was a good call. Looked to me like the runner tried to go one way to avoid the fielder (That in itself is OBS) Then the fielder went the same way.

[BRUMP]

I think it was a good call.

[FlaUmp22]

It looked messy but I think the right call was made... I'm starting a fund to get Hawk a muzzle 

[hbk314]

I think it was a good call. Looked to me like the runner tried to go one way to avoid the fielder (That in itself is OBS) Then the fielder went the same way.

 

Exactly. Dunn was directly between him and the base, so he tried to go around him while Dunn tried to get out of the way. They both relocated to the same relative positions.

[bam]

I don't like that call. Hunter was too close to the base to divert into the fielder. He had an unhindered opportunity to return to 1B, but he chose to divert into F3 instead. That contact did not represent obstruction because his advance (return) to the base was not hindered by it.

 

OTOH, I'm not invoking 7.08(a) either, since his diversion was not an attempt to avoid a tag. It was an attempt to draw an OBS call. I would have left the ball live, signaled safe/"that's nothing" (if I were really on top of it), and called the runner out when he was tagged.

 

This play is quite different from a play 45 feet from a base where a runner turns around and bumps into a fielder as he is establishing his new base path. That's OBS all day.

I find it hard to believe you don'r see obstruction here.  F2 was standing on 1B to receive the throw.  F3 was just standing in the basepath.  Fielder without the ball cannot obstruct a runner.  Baseball 101.  OBS all day, er'ry day. 

[grayhawk]

I absolutely have obstruction.  I usually agree with you Maven, but not in this case.

[pnewton]

The fact that Hunter had to "juke" to his left to avoid hitting Dunn is OBS.  The real question is how many times does Hawk have to see this same type of play be enforced as obstruction to finally recognize that it's the correct call?

[UmpJeff]

I think we can all agree that Ken Harrelson is a D-BAG.  At least the voices in my head agree.  "These are the times I wish I could cuss."  A broad interpretation of cussing, but, he said "that's BS" a couple times. 

 

Nonetheless, I don't particularly care for him and soon wish I could finally say "HE GONE!!"

[pnewton]

http://wapc.mlb.com/play/?content_id=29063267&topic_id=0

 

Interestingly the Tigers' feed also didn't think the call was right

 

http://wapc.mlb.com/play?content_id=29063267

[Thunderheads]

http://wapc.mlb.com/play/?content_id=29063267&topic_id=0

 

Interestingly the Tigers' feed also didn't think the call was right

It's Rod Allen and Mario Impeba, .... what do you want ?!

[Larry in TN]

Interestingly the Tigers' feed also didn't think the call was right

 

They're right, it's not "interference"!

 

The runner is headed back to first base and has two defensive players who don't have the ball blocking his path.  How can that not be obstruction?

 

Dunn looks like he's a blocker in football instead of a first baseman.

[GerryB]

Around here we've had some HCs start to teach that the runner in a run down should run at the fielder. So at first run I thought that was it, but those replays show Dunn in Hunter's path, then moving simulatneously with Hunter. I've got obstruction.

[mstaylor]

Obstruction 101, type A. Raven,I usually agree with you but you are dead wrong here.<br /><br />Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2<br /><br />

[blue23ll]

That's obstruction, all day long. Is it too much to ask for announcers to have a rudimentary knowledge of the basic rules? Some of these guys have been in the game for decades and they STILL don't know the difference between interference and obstruction?

[Lindsay]

Ventura indicated in his post-game press conference that he believed Hunter had "given up" and that therefore he could not have been impeded... I don't recall abandonment ever being ruled while a runner is legally running the bases and a fielder is chasing him with a ball... (43 seconds in)

 

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=29083643&topic_id=vtp_manager_postgame&c_id=mlb&tcid=vpp_copy_29083643&v=3

[blue23ll]

What choice did Hunter have, the bag was blocked by 2 people? He could have pushed people out of the way I assume.

[zm1283]

This is the reason you watch games with your TV muted.....

[scrounge]

Let the record show that the Sox' radio announcers, a far better team, agreed with the call and were much easier on the ears than the TV crew.

[iankelleyumpire]

Good call. Dunn moved himself into the way Hunter was trying to return back to 1B. Regardless of what Hunter did and his juke moves, OBS should've been called, as was rightfully called.