Controversial plate call in Reds Marlins game

[HamIAm]

What did you think of the reviewed call in last nights Reds-Marlins game?  I thought they blew the call big time.  How are you blocking the plate if you have the ball in your mitt when the runner arrives.  And they took 6 1/2 minutes to come to a conclusion.  This is not a good example of why baseball needs instant replay.

[ucahogfan]

That was a horrible call.  The C wasn't initially blocking the plate, but Stanton's throw carried him up the line into a position where he was blocking the plate so I can see why the rule was enforced, but the throw still beat the runner by a lot.  The whole plate collision rule needs to be re-visited and changed.  The rule isn't consistently applied either.  The player would have been called out half the time and safe half the time.  Stanton or another Marlin said something to the effect that if the C is blocking the plate while the runner is rounding 3B would mean that a runner is ruled safe at home just like the play from last night.

[HamIAm]

But doesn't the rule allow you to reposition in an effort to catch the ball?

[ucahogfan]

There was a play in the Dodgers/Braves game that could have been different had the new plate blocking rule not been in place.  It was the bottom of the 1st and Puig was on 1B.  A-Gon hit one into the RCF gap so Puig was going to try to score from 1B.  The throw in from the RF (Ryan Doumit maybe?  Not J-Hey) to Simmons and then the throw from Simmons to Gattis beat Puig by 15-20 feet, but Gattis didn't handle a good throw to tag Puig out.  The guys on MLB Network assumed that Gattis was so worried about not blocking the plate that it took his attention off of catching a nice one hopper from Simmons.  Puig obviously scored and the Braves lost 2-1 against Clayton Kershaw.  The Braves were the only NL team that Kershaw had yet to record a W against in the regular season before last night.

[ucahogfan]

But doesn't the rule allow you to reposition in an effort to catch the ball?

I honestly don't think anyone completely knows the rule.  Like I said, there isn't a consistent application of it.  It is just way too confusing in the first place.  And a situation where the ball beats the runner by that much, some common sense should be used, but it clearly wasn't.

[ChicoHog]

I agree with you and it also makes me think that third base coaches are probably more aggressive in sending runners now as it's harder for the catcher to make the play/tag in an awkward position of reaching out to tag the runner vs being right in front of or on the plate. 

[ucahogfan]

To add on to this topic, two very similar plays in crucial points in the game last night lead to two different outcomes.  The rule has got to change.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/50609/collision-rule-remains-controversial-murky