been catching anyway...Farrell is not making the best decisions recently.

that says "very likely" the runner obstructed in the laying down part of the example and the umpire said that part didn't apply to the play. Huh? And then later said Middlebrooks should have gotten out of the way. Looking at the replay many times, that wasn't an option. But you are right about Farrell, many questionable decisions but tough week for final plays in Boston.

so close! They do well this year when pressed, so I am not saying this is through by a long shot...but they shellacked St L the first game, and the next 2 were winnable save for errors, bad pitching, bad manager decisions....

Oh well - tomorrow night I will be in front of the TV watching every pitch...again!

There wasn't anything Middlebrooks could have done. Even if he didn't raise his legs, it didn't matter, he was still in the way, and besides, Craig didn't trip over his legs, he tripped over his body, which never left the ground. Once Craig wasn't able to "cleanly" go home, the damage was done. If Middlebrooks hadn't been there at all, Craig would have likely scored anyway.

Great play by Pedroia, but Salty shouldn't have made the throw at all, and once Middlebrooks had to leave his feat for the ball, there was nothing he could have done.

The biggest issue is that the rule requires no intent on the part of the fielder. In the way is in the way. It's just a really odd call at a corner base. Second basemen and shortstops get called for this fairly often. Dive for a ball and then can't get up out of the way of a runner going first to third, they get awarded the base to which they were going, and usually the next base.

Just a bizarre play. But, i think the play was called directly.

Of a player lying on the ground. The "most likely" must of been added to give discretion to the umpire. So, the question I have is in what way would a player lying down not be obstruction. When I hear a reasonable explanation, then I may change my opinion it was one shitty call to end a World Series game.

it's obstruction.... that's the rule. I've read about 20 different stories on this and every sports writer agrees that they followed the rule.

Hell---even a few Bosox fans here in DU agree.

like it is black and white, no intent is needed, and they have a discretion wrtiten right into the rule. So, how can it be used? That is all I ask.

Dude you're not even close. This link below has the rule in it's entirety and video's to back it up. You use the word Discretion as if calls made by umps have no errrr discretion.

Not only did Middlebrook Obstruct Craig, he also lifted his legs creating more obstruction.

Read the rule, look at the video---if you still say its bullshit then you are simply just whining.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/major-league-baseball-obstruction-rule-twitter-reaction-world-series-game-3-cardinals-red-sox-102613

After a fielder has made an attempt to field a ball and missed, he can no longer be in the act of fielding the ball. For example: If an infielder dives at a ground ball and the ball passes him and he continues to lie on the ground and delays the progress of the runner, he very likely has obstructed the runner."

"VERY LIKELY" as in not most likely, but only very likely. So, why would the rules committee choose this as it's example and change everything they said earlier. If they wanted to emphasize everything above they simply would say that in the example a player on the ground is ruled in violation of the obstruction rule in all cases. Not "very likely" ruled obstructing. the rules committee know there is a problem when a fielder might be on the ground for no fault of hois own and can't get out of the way. So, they use the example very likely he is obstructing. I was on board with the obstruction call until I heard the umpire in the press conference (even the umps knew they along with Joe Torre and his book had to address the issue) didn't answer the first question out of the box about "very likely". He said it didn't apply. Fine, tell me why. He didn't.

You cant see him lift his legs for the obvious attempt to obstruct. Really.......you can't see that.

Nice avatar!