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by wrveres » Fri May 27, 2011 5:54 am 
$10.00 MerlotGiantsFan14 wrote:then go make your own thread and whine about us whining.
White Zin, in a box.Cousins sat out Thursday afternoon's game with a stiff neck and a jammed shoulder from the collision. He said he wouldn't advocate changing the rules in regard to plays at the plate. "I understand it was a clean play and that it was the play that needed to be made at that time, but I didn't want anyone to get hurt," he said. "There are definitely risks of being a catcher. That's one of the ugliest plays in baseball. "If I saw a clean lane to slide, that's the play I'm making. I have speed and like to believe I'm going to beat the ball. But there was no chance on that play. It was a game-changing play in extra innings, and I had to play as hard as I could." Cousins crawled over to check on Posey immediately after scoring. He was chased away from the catcher by angry Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "I knew I hit him really hard," Cousins said. "I didn't know his foot was caught underneath. I committed to it. I went in there hard. My instinct was just to check and make sure everyone was OK. I wanted to be a good sportsman about it. It is part of the game, but it's a hard-nosed part of the game. You can't change it, but you certainly don't want anyone to get hurt. I wanted to knock the ball clean out of his glove, but I certainly didn't want him to get hurt."
(You know Bruce, the guys your best hitter. Why you have him behind the plate is anyones guess. You're an ex catcher. You know this.)
Wild Irish RoseRaising Matt Cain: "It's part of baseball," said Bochy, a former catcher. "I understand that guys run into catchers. I do think we need to consider changing the rules here a little bit because catchers are so vulnerable. ... Here's a guy [Posey] who's very popular in baseball. Fans want to see him play and now he's out for a while. So I'd like to see something considered where we can protect these guys a little bit more. They just don't have that protection to take a guy coming in full speed with that kind of force."
Night TrainOnly Baseball Matters: Posey had already taken several hard foul tips off his mask and legs this season, even leaving one game for precautionary reasons to make sure he didn’t have a concussion. Some observers have argued a slugger of his caliber shouldn’t be behind the plate, where hits can be routine, and this injury surely won’t do much to quiet that sentiment. Posey himself has always shaken off those remarks, saying he was born to play catcher and loves his position.
Rippleobsessivegiantscompulsive: As far as I know, runners aren't allow to run into the firstbaseman, secondbaseman, shortstop, or thirdbaseman to jar the ball loose. At least any more, there used to be more danger for infielders long ago, and the MLB rightfully changed the rules to protect the fielders better. Yet the MLB allows open season on the catcher like this, which is not allowed in any level of amateur baseball. How many more Rookies of the Year, rising stars will the MLB lose before they try to do something about this?
CiscoMcCovey Chronicles: there has to be a way to eliminate crazy-violent collisions at home plate. You can't decimate a catcher in college. They're able to enforce that somehow. There's no way to eliminate contact altogether, but there's a way to eliminate the strategy of plowing into a catcher so hard that he drops the ball. We're storming the administration building, folks. We're going to burn bras and draft cards and effigies, and we'll get this fixed. After we stop openly weeping.
Mad Dog 20/20Dave Cameron: I was a catcher in high school, and I was trained how to block the plate while trying to keep myself alive. High School isn’t MLB, but I still found myself in a few situations where a significantly larger player was barreling towards me at full speed, and I realized that I had to stop being a baseball player and start being a gladiator. It was ridiculous to me then and is ridiculous to me now
ThunderbirdBay City Ball: Status quo is stupid. If we also marched, stumbled, and drooled to this old drum, black people would have their own league, not able to compete in the “Major” leagues. In this country, we fight for what’s right. We challenge conventions that have been around forever. Woman weren’t able to vote; they now out-vote men. Black people couldn’t play Major League Baseball, and now they’re among the most celebrated and talented players in the games great history. Black people weren’t allowed to vote; a black man is now President. Gays weren’t allowed in the military; gays now fight for our freedom. Gays weren’t allowed to marry; well, we’re still working on that one.
(Clearly, Buster Posey moves to block the plate. Not sure what video you guys are watching)
Neyer: Catchers should not be allowed to block home plate without the ball, and in fact the rules prohibit them from doing exactly that. But the umpires allow them to block the plate — this is what Joe refers to as “the de facto legalization of obstruction — and this leads to a serious injury or two every season. Runners should not be allowed to devastate catchers. They shouldn’t be allowed to devastate catchers who are blocking the plate, and they absolutely should not be allowed to devastate catchers who are not blocking the plate. Watch the play again. Buster Posey did not have the ball. Buster Posey was not blocking the plate. Scott Cousins had to alter his path to slam into Buster Posey. You can’t really fault Cousins because his behavior has become normal.
Cristal
Passan: Let’s be honest: If Eli Whiteside got destroyed by Scott Cousins and snapped his leg, the baseball world would’ve shrugged and moved on. That’s what this hand-wringing over plays at the plate is about. Not safety. Not conscientiousness. It’s using the stature of the person who really got injured – Buster Posey – and the gruesome nature of the injury to push for unnecessary rule changes.
And they ignore one simple fact: In an extra-innings, tie game between two teams that expect to contend, a run was at stake – ultimately the winning run – and two men prepared to duel for it. There is something admirable about their bravery, no matter how gladiatorial. Both were determined to do everything they could Wednesday to end up on the right side of that play. Cousins, a reserve outfielder for the Florida Marlins, wanted to score. Posey wanted to prevent him from scoring. Wherein almost all of baseball’s one-on-one situations involve pitcher vs. hitter, this was a test of skill, toughness, gamesmanship and hunger. A run could mean the difference between a playoff appearance and an October at home.
Baseball should live for these situations, not bemoan them. It was not Cousins’ intent to injure; that’s never the runner’s motivation. He craved the run because of what it meant to his team, and if scoring it necessitated him winding up his arms and plowing into Posey to jar the ball loose, so be it. The aesthetics were unfortunate. The fashion in which Posey’s leg dangled afterward was, too.
The run certainly wasn’t.
Jeff, thank you for explaining it best.
Marlins won.
![:-]](./images/smilies/smirk.gif "Scottie")
