Now All Catchers Must Suck?

Last Wednesday night Scott Cousins collided at the plate with Buster Posey in the top of the 12^th inning of a tie game.  Since then, baseball people have been tearing their hair out trying to make heads or tails of the situation. 

Make no mistake- if Scott Cousins had collided with Kyle Phillips, we wouldn't be talking about this.    It's because Posey is a star, and the title hopes of the defending World Champions are at stake that this is a conversation. 

The immediate reaction was 'Well, this is unfortunate, but it's the way the game is played, it's the way it always have been.'  While I'm always suspicious of white people saying 'This is the way it's always been', everyone knows the play was legal.  It was only after it became clear that Posey was probably out for the season that we began committing seppuku.   

The first to freak out was Jeff Berry, Posey's agent.  And of course he's freaking out; he probably already spent the 10% he was anticipating from Posey's next contract, which in the 11^th inning of Wednesday's game was expected to be substantial.  Berry stated, in a complaint to MLB, "Buster never blocked the plate with his body. He set up to catch the throw in front of the plate and stayed there."

Really Jeff?  You're not seriously contending that Buster wasn't blocking the plate, are you?  We've all seen the play now (unless we tried to watch it online, but that's a different rant.) 

"The runner - who had a clear path to slide and touch the plate - crossed from the foul side of the third-to-home line to the fair side as he ran toward home." 

In retrospect, yes, he didn't need to collide.  That is clear NOW.  It was not clear the moment before they collided.  Scott Cousins did NOTHING wrong. 

"The runner lowers his shoulder as he gets to the edge of the dirt circle, while Buster is not at all anticipating a collision, rather preparing for a sweep tag."

Are you fucking kidding me?!  HE WASN'T EXPECTING A COLLISION?  Are you nuts?!  Have you never watched a baseball game before?  Of course he was expecting a collision!  Anybody who's ever played Little League, anyone who saw Cousins round third, everybody in the park, watching on TV, or listening on the radio expected a collision.  Except, I guess, Jeff Berry. 

I'm not sure what kind of changes can be made to make the game safer, but I would support any.  If it can be done, do it.  The more important change, though, needs to be a cultural one.   

It wasn't too long ago (Tuesday I think) that Pete Rose's reputation for hustle was based primarily on running to first on base on balls, and ending Ray Fosse's career with a plate collision in the 1970 All-Star Game.  Remember that every talking head over 40 on television who says that the game needs to be made safer for the likes' of the Posey's of this game, has probably said something close to 'Well, it sucks that Fosse's career was over, but that's the way the game is played, and man you gotta love a guy who plays the game like Pete Rose.' 

Bill Simmons tweeted the other day that there's no way he'd let a star block the plate in a meaningless game; maybe the World Series, but not now.  And every team in the league should think about that statement.  Yes, we can change the rules, but that's going to take time.  Wouldn't it be easier to just give up the run, and save the neck of the guy we're paying millions too? 

Unless it's Kyle Phillips.  He can take one for the team.

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