Poor sportsmanship or smart baseball?

[Sports Guy]

The blame falls on Clark...There is no question about that.

[nadecir]

Attempt to bobble the ball in the outfield until he is close enough in to throw out a runner trying to tag? No OF fly, right? If it ain't written that you can't, then you can.

Because the baseball rulebook specifically allows the runner to run as soon as the fielder FIRST touches the ball. The fielder gains no advantage by juggling the ball. From the major league rule book:

A CATCH is the act of a fielder in getting secure possession in his hand or glove of a ball in flight and firmly holding it; providing he does not use his cap, protector, pocket or any other part of his uniform in getting possession. It is not a catch, however, if simultaneously or immediately following his contact with the ball, he collides with a player, or with a wall, or if he falls down, and as a result of such collision or falling, drops the ball. It is not a catch if a fielder touches a fly ball which then hits a member of the offensive team or an umpire and then is caught by another defensive player. If the fielder has made the catch and drops the ball while in the act of making a throw following the catch, the ball shall be adjudged to have been caught. In establishing the validity of the catch, the fielder shall hold the ball long enough to prove that he has complete control of the ball and that his release of the ball is voluntary and intentional.

Rule 2.00 (Catch) Comment: A catch is legal if the ball is finally held by any fielder, even though juggled, or held by another fielder before it touches the ground. Runners may leave their bases the instant the first fielder touches the ball.

[eldeeds99]

Clark is just full of excuses...Bottom line is you catch that ball...The blame falls on his head and no one else.

I couldn't agree more.

[byrdz]

Clark is just full of excuses...Bottom line is you catch that ball...The blame falls on his head and no one else.

I guess Arroyo should have held onto the ball just a bit harder in anticipation of ARod's swipe and Pedroia should have jumped off the 2nd base bag about 10 feet in anticipation of ARod's elbow to the ribs. True they take some responsibility, but that doesn't make ARod any less bush league.

[CrimsonTribe]

The reason they don't have a rehearsed pop-up dialogue is because nobody pulls that crap. It's an etiquette thing at the very least. It's just sort of gay. If this sort of thing is OK, why shouldn't base runners just stand there and shout in the guy's ear every time there is a pop-up in the infield?

I'm not a fan of the etiquette rationale. This is baseball not a dinner party. Bottom line, it was funny when Willy Mays Hayes did it and it's still funny now.

[CrimsonTribe]

Because the baseball rulebook specifically allows the runner to run as soon as the fielder FIRST touches the ball. The fielder gains no advantage by juggling the ball. From the major league rule book:

Good call. Even so, it seems a bit risky anyway.

[Fairfax Bird]

Clark is just full of excuses...Bottom line is you catch that ball...The blame falls on his head and no one else.

Well you are right, but that is a punk move by A-Rod, if it wasn't you would see this on a regular basis and the Blue Jays wouldn't have been so pissed.

[srh523]

How many times in AROD career has he done this stupid bush league crap!

[bgfield]

The blame falls on Clark...There is no question about that.

Yes there is.

[Sports Guy]

I guess Arroyo should have held onto the ball just a bit harder in anticipation of ARod's swipe and Pedroia should have jumped off the 2nd base bag about 10 feet in anticipation of ARod's elbow to the ribs. True they take some responsibility, but that doesn't make ARod any less bush league.

Those 2 incidents are not even in the same zip code as this.

[Sports Guy]

Yes there is.

No rational question about it.

How many fans yell i got it or scream to stop a player from catching a ball and the fans are right on the field nowadays.

Whether it is baseball etiquette or not is irrelevant...The bottom line is you make that play if you are a major leaguer.

[bgfield]

Well you are right, but that is a punk move by A-Rod, if it wasn't you would see this on a regular basis and the Blue Jays wouldn't have been so pissed.

He's not right. How many times does this need to be said? There's a specific rule against what Rodriguez did.

INTERFERENCE

(a) Offensive interference is an act by the team at bat which interferes with, obstructs, impedes, hinders or confuses any fielder attempting to make a play. If the umpire declares the batter, batter- runner, or a runner out for interference, all other runners shall return to the last base that was in the judgment of the umpire, legally touched at the time of the interference, unless otherwise provided by these rules.

Again, if what Alex Rodriguez did isn't considered "confusing" the fielder, I don't know what is.

[SilentJames]

What A-Rod dd was what elementary tee-ball kids do and then get yelled at for.

Biggest effiing child in the game.

[coruscatingly]

2) Will every other team now have runners screaming "mine" in her ear as they head to third?

<b>"That play happens to me three or four times a week, except it's not at third base, it's over in foul territory by the dugout," Rodriguez said.</b>

[byrdz]

This isn't from a high schooler but from a grown adult, a professional, a millionaire that supposed to be on a team with more class than most. That's the funny part to me, not what resulted from it but what he did. Sad and funny at the same time.

Let's put this into a real life situation where you ask you child to sweep the floor and instead of him putting the dust into the trash he pushes it under the carpet out of pure laziness or "desperation" as ARod puts it. Yeah sure the floor is clean but he cheated his way through the work. My kids would have a different role model and know that this isn't acceptable behavior at any age.

As someone else stated, baseball is a classy sport because of the etiquette. ARod has violated that etiquette on more than one occasion. That's my beef with it, not what rules he may have broken. Winning at any cost is not winning. That's my opinion and sorry for the emotional rant but I feel strongly about this and I have no kids.