Poor sportsmanship or smart baseball?

[jmorgan]

Several more points I want to make on this:

1) If you go to MLB.com and watch the footage on the main page ARod clearly says something like "mine" while he passes by the fielder knowing there's another Jay fielder nearby.

i dont know about that, it did look like "ha" to me. Most of the sports channels are saying the same. But hey we will never know.

[bgfield]

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.

Give me a break. A fan yelling "I got it" is different than a player who's right behind you. Not only that, the fans aren't there getting a paycheck. They shouldn't do it either, but there's no rule preventing them from doing so.

Secondly, it's not etiquette, it's a rule. Go back to page one, I copied and pasted from the rule book. What Rodriguez did is considered interference. Period.

[El Gordo]

His $200 mil. team of all stars is 13.5 games out. If thats what he thinks it takes to win, I have to feel sorry for him.

[cindyluvsbrady]

I learned to hate the yanks after the Jeff Maier nightmare. Arod thinks like the rest of the evil ones that rules DO NOT apply to them.Sportsmanship:eek: They dont know what that means.

I think Arod should be fined alot of $$$$$ and suspended.

I want to add I do have respect for some of the yanks of long long long ago like Lou Gerhig.

Arod makes me gag:p

[Goop]

I don't agree with what he did. I know some people say that stuff like that is part of the game, but I don't like it. I think it's kind of cheap.

[SilentJames]

Seriously, I have seen little leaguers get benched for less. Just because its legal doesn't make it right.

And its legality is in question. My favorite thing is that he admitted it and basically said "we need to do anything to win." Total crap. I hope he got plunked tonight.

[byrdz]

And its legality is in question. My favorite thing is that he admitted it and basically said "we need to do anything to win." Total crap. I hope he got plunked tonight.

Yeah and that was after the game during the interview. During the game he was asked and said plainly said no.

[mark_beckens]

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:

I was going to say it but you beat me to it. You can juggle it all you want, as soon as the fielder touches the ball the runner can go.

[Why Not?]

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.

In reading the definition of interference AND the specific rules defining baserunner interference, I think the "confuse" part of the rule refers to doing stuff like running the bases backwards or having three runners gather around a base (not sure why you would do that!).

I don't think there's anything in the rule book about this because it just isn't done.

[oriole_way]

By the way, this IS considered interference by the rulebook:

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.

So yeah, that's why you don't see guys trying this more often.

By this rule, why is a take out slide at 2nd base in an attempt to break up a double play considered legal?

Isn't that interfering with the fielder?

[Mu'ayyidSaafir]

Hey those of you saying that it was a smart, good play, there's someone who disagrees with you: A-Rod.

Q: They claim that you yelled, "Mine!"

A: No. I would never do that. Now, maybe that's a little bit out of line.

So A-Rod HIMSELF thinks that it's "out of line" to deceive the fielder by imitating a fellow fielder.

A: Intentional?!

Q: Well, what made you yell out "Ha?"

A: I don't know, I was just excited rounding third base.

Yep, nothing more exciting for a MLB veteran than rounding third base... on a two out pop-up that's almost certain to be caught... in a game you're going to win anyway.

So A-Rod thinks that deceiving an infielder in the manner discussed here would indeed be a cheap, out of line play. What he did, he says, was not actually intended to deceive. Now, that's about as convincing as his insistence that his slap was "just part of his natural running motion," or, for that matter, Rocket's famous "I thought it was the ball" explanation for chucking a bat shard at Mike Piazza. But it's pretty comedic that A-Rod himself denies doing what many people here are praising him for. Maybe that's a sign that it's not so praiseworthy?

Oh, one more thing:

A: I was past third.

Blatant lie.

You can hear all these quotes for yourself

.

[tennOsfan]

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.

But those fans aren't ON THE INFIELD. The direction and closeness of the words makes all the difference in this case.

Sure, Clark should've made the catch anyway, but ARod committed an act that should have been called interference. In the interpretations of the interference rule that I've learned (of course, it's only high school level), you call him out for that.

[tennOsfan]

By this rule, why is a take out slide at 2nd base in an attempt to break up a double play considered legal?

Isn't that interfering with the fielder?

That's an interpretation that MLB umpires have made over the years.

You can't just read the rulebook and say, "There's the rule." I'm sure MLB has a case book as well (which high school and college have in every sport) that gives umpteen scenarios where you analyze how each rule is to be interpreted.

[bgfield]

By this rule, why is a take out slide at 2nd base in an attempt to break up a double play considered legal?

Isn't that interfering with the fielder?

Good point, but I never thought it's a good justification that just because one rule isn't enforced, another shouldn't be either.

[66-70-83-??]

FWIW-

Gammons was talking about this play today on ESPN.

He says that there are some things that you just don't do.

One of them is yell "mine" as a baserunner. Another "no-no" that crosses the line would be for a 3B coach to yell "cut" to fool the cut-off man into cutting off a throw to a base/home.

Bottom line: AROD did a cheap, bush-league stunt.