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| St. Louis Cardinals manager has an opinion on the recent collision at home plate that broke Buster Posey's leg. He wants catchers to get out of the way. - Photo courtesy of STLToday.com |
So it is not a surprise that La Russa would have an opinion regarding the collision at home plate in a recent game between the San Francisco Giants and Florida Marlins. A collision that likely ended the season of Giants star catching phenom Buster Posey.
Most are calling for the protection of catchers, and while La Russa does not preach that his baserunners maul over helpless catchers, he believes that catchers can do more to get out of the way.
"I would definitely be in favor of changing the rule," he said. "But it's a change that should be looked at from both sides. The analogy I kept thinking of yesterday was between home plate and first base. You step on the bag because the first baseman's not blocking the bag. The first baseman's in your way, what are you going to do? You see just as many catchers where they have collisions where the runner will seek to dislodge the ball, no matter where the catcher's position is, as you do the catcher who will block the plate off. So I would be in favor of discussing that rule where the catcher always gives the runner something to slide to."
La Russa is never afraid to say what may be deemed as unpopular. The terrible injury by Posey, who suffered a broken leg as well as severe tendon damage, has caused an uproar in the sports community. Many feel catchers should be protected. La Russa simply feels that they should just stay out of the way.
"I'm all in favor of a discussion to change that rule," he said. "The nearest thing that I can think about is first base. You give the runner a part of the plate to go to, and you give the catcher the protection that he's not going to be busted up if he's giving that lane."
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What a bunch of crap! The rules have been this way for well over a hundred years! Are catchers to soft these days? It is actually rare that a catcher gets hurt, I can see if catchers were getting run over everyday, but that isn't the case! Stop crying and play the game the way it's meant to be played! Ty Cobb is probably looking up and laughing at today's weak ball players!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIf it was a backup catcher that was injured you wouldn't hear a word about it.
ReplyDeleteThe rule should be changed only to protect the catcher's health. As far as, the collision with Posey, he was not blocking the plate he was to the right of the plate and the runner intentionally ran into Posey, the runner was not sliding, check out the video from all the angles. The runner even positioned his body to slam into Posey as in a cross-check in hockey, this is un-sportmanship of the delibete type in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteGo read my thoughts on Buster Posey's injury on SFDugout.com:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sfdugout.com/content.php?1528-We-All-Fall-Down-Eliminating-Collisions-at-the-Plate
What a joke. Enough with rules changes in sports. I get so sick of watching these games nowadays, in almost every game you see now there are balls that should have been caught, plays that should have been made or bases that should have been reached safely all because the player was lazy or didn't want to break a fingernail. The percentage is so high these days of the players that are just there for their paycheck. Give me the old-time players any day of the week, little money-big effort on every play. I am sorry posey was hurt, but what effort all the way around, thats the way to play ball. At the end of the season, if the marlins win their division by 1 game, it's because they played hard on this night.
ReplyDeletehere here i'm with you. big money and they don't want to play the game the way it's been played for 100 years. it's a damn shame. But they want to raise ticket prices and call these guys superstars. Look at football and all the changes bring back old sports please
ReplyDeleteSorry guys but this is reminiscent of the Romans throwing the Christians to the lions. You want to see other people hurt for your own amusement. Baseball is a great game and a game of finesse and skill. If you want to see collisions go to a football game. Everyone loses when a great player like Posey is sidelined and incidentally, the NFL realizes this as well, that everyone loses when a great quarterback is hurt and removed from the game. I’ll take a few less collisions in exchange for keeping great players on the field. At a minimum the rule should allow fines or players to be thrown out of the game if they go out of their way to hit the other player.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, wake up and smell the coffee. You're a guy whose making millions of dollars for playiong baseball. You think you're going to jeopardize that and what it means to your family for a single play in one of 162 games? Even if you thought that's the way it should be... it's not.
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