old man grumble incoming…I don’t need the strike zone superimposed on the screen at all times, I know where it is, just show me if it’s questionable thank you. Now if you’ll excuse me some kids are playing pepper and there’s an oddly shaped cloud I need to yell about.
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Royals are going to win it all this year! If you guys will excuse me I’m late for my medications this evening…
Fun fact: first I thought it was a weird transparent add overlay over the stream, then I realized what it is good for.
I like it to be honest, because I cannot reliably tell whether a ball is thrown well or not.
@Rhinosaurus
Thank you! Makes some more sense now. 
And yeah the game was cool, I even saw a stolen base. A guy called Baez suddenly started to run. They said he is known for that.
I just didn’t fully grasp what the difference between a steal and a “late steal” (that’s what they called it) was. But they sure praised it as a sign of skill and “reading” the opponents.
Oh and btw. it seems that the Braves vs. the Phillies games were a bit one sided. Is that normal?
Also:
This guy obviously got ejected.
What are the rules for that?
I’ve seen balls thrown off in all directions in the game I watched. How did the umpire know that was intentional?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qt8kWO5vKcg
I have another question:
I have seen a video mentioning that until a few years ago it was legal to basically… tackle the catcher?
Why was that? Why would you do that?
And can you still run into other players legally?
Intentional collisions are a no go.
Barreling into the catcher was crowned upon but technically legal. The idea being that on a close play he’d fumble or miss the ball entirely and you’d score. Needless to say it caused injuries and the incident that sparked you question involved Buster Posey, then a relatively up and coming superstar at the position. I forget what exactly happened to him injury wise but it set off the no intentional collision thing.
At the bases it’s similar… Contact for the sake of contact can see you suspended and definitely ejected. There’s no reason to break someone’s ankle.
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Ok thanks.
A related question:
I know that a runner is out when touched with the ball, or by a fielder that has the ball in his hand or the glove.
Now, when I am running toward a base, and the baseman comes at me, could I “defend” myself by pushing the arm with the ball away?
I guess what I mean is: does he have to actively touch me with his hand (what about the glove if he has the ball in the other hand), or is touching any part of his body a tag out for me?
Sorry if those are dumb questions. I have read parts of the rules and wikipedia about them, but there are lots of them, it is a bit like drinking from a fire hose.
That’s actually a good question. Somebody smarter on baseball will have to give it the definitive answer.
What I was always taught was to get on the base and avoid the ball - i.e the defensive layer’s hand with the ball in it, usually his glove. This is why you see runners sliding into the base - either head first or feet (one foot) first.
As kids, the head first slide is usually discouraged as too dangerous. We were taught the correct way to slide feet first, one leg extended and aimed at the base, the other tucked underneath you. It is actually a lot of fun.
I’ve not watched more than a couple of innings so far. It is still March Madness - with Villanova out of the tournament (didn’t get to the Sweet 16) I’ve been rooting for Auburn - they rocked North Carolina and the Kentucky game went onto OT to get them to the Final Four. One more weekend then its all base ball.
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You cannot slap the glove away or the ball out of the glove.
That being said, if you are sliding or just generally running and that natural motion dislodges the ball, that’s the defenders problem.
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@Rhinosaurus beat me to it with the not being allowed to slap the ball out of the glove.
The guy being ejected for hitting Hoskins… basically, Harper hit a home run right before. Pitchers have been known to intentionally hit the next batter from time to time after someone hits a homer. If you plunk the next batter with the first pitch, even if it was somehow an accident, it’s hard to convince someone that it wasn’t done in retaliation.
(forgot to mention how he knew it was intentional, situation mostly, but also what kind of pitch, a fastball in like that is far more likely to be intentional than a breaking ball that genuinely may not have done what it should have and is also a heck of a lot slower)
The no running over the catcher thing, sorta good thing, mostly good even as it did start to get a bit out of hand, but there are two sides to that in that every single catch did everything they could to block the plate so you had to run through them.
There use to be a runners intentionally sliding towards a shortstop or second baseman trying to turn a double play, you aren’t allowed to do that anymore either, but again it wasn’t entirely on the runners imo as the umpires use to just give an out to the defense as long as the player covering second received the ball in the area of the base instead of actually you know, getting the actual out. Replay killed that one.
Now that’s the most common place, but I can’t recall if it was last nights game or the game before, the Braves 3rd basemen completely blocked off 3rd base from the runner. If the runner would have slid in feet first and spiked him, it would have been ok imo cause well what is the runner going to do.
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When it comes to the scores for the first series, the Phillies lineup is pretty absurd in that pretty much everyone can do big damage. Braves have a few pitchers hurt and trying to be respectful to the Braves fans out there. Last year they had a lot of guys who had absolutely amazing seasons. Guys like Markakis who started hot and never cooled off and they seemed to be able to get guys who filled in here or there to be able to play at the top of their game during their time.
Their bullpen is a bit suspect to begin with and also injured. I wouldn’t expect that all their guys will continue to play as well as they did last year, with the exception of maybe Freddie Freeman who is amazing and Acuna jr.
They won a ton of games last year in the final 2 innings (think they lead the league in that), that’s great, but that’s hard to sustain year to year, they’ll be good, but I wouldn’t expect the same outcome as last year, that and every other team in the NL East got better well except maybe the Marlins.
All that said, it is only 3 games into a 162 game season.
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The other thing I saw was how the pitcher came off the mound right after he delivered the pitch. Typically a pitcher will take a more defensive stance in case the guy hits the ball back towards the mound and he needs to make a play on it. (The baseball fielding (defensive) stance is facing the hitter, feet about shoulder-width apart, knees bent, leaning forward, hands (free and glove hand) resting on knees, head up and watching the ball.) Pitchers never really get into the stance after a pitch…but this guy came right off the mound looking at the batter, glove down and standing upright. close to it. It was an intentional hit batter pitch.
Gosh I love this game! 
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If a fielder impedes the base or base path, you as the runner can run them right over. If you’re base running you get to the base and the heck with the guy who decides to be in the way (shortstops can have this happen by accident, they can get trucked if they’re not paying attention). The catcher is of course trying to cover home.
If it’s a close play, you head for the bag and it’s a wash to see what happens. Sometimes you and the catcher collide pretty hard and if you’re playing for keeps you may do it to try and jar the ball out of the catchers hand/glove (your not supposed to though). Having played as a catcher, your best bet is to be force the runner to be between the fielder throwing and you catching the ball for the tag. That way they’re having to dodge the ball as well (you can’t legally just chuck the ball at a runner, but if they get hit by accident…). I’d stick my glove with the ball on the ground between their foot and the bag as they slid, no way to tag home or avoid the out besides going wildly off course which gave me time to get a tag.
You can’t just run into another player intentionally if they are not impeding the base or the base path (though I like the way you think).
[quote=“Aginor, post:87, topic:7623”]Now, when I am running toward a base, and the baseman comes at me, could I “defend” myself by pushing the arm with the ball away?
I guess what I mean is: does he have to actively touch me with his hand (what about the glove if he has the ball in the other hand), or is touching any part of his body a tag out for me?
[/quote]
No you can’t intentionally “deflect” the fielder. As a base runner your options are basically run away from the fielder, or run past them, that’s it. Anything else is a no go if they’re not obstructing the base path or bag. Basically the fielder needs to tag you with his glove with the ball in it, or the hand holding the ball. Either will work.
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and you know that sometime later this year there will be payback for it. To think some people don’t like the unwritten rules of baseball 
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I blame Football. 
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Is that football, football, like the kind with goal posts, and burly men running into each other, or the football, the kind with girl men pretending they’ve been run into?
The former (although I disagree a tad with your opinion about the latter, even though soccer is far away from being my favourite sport).
Tounge in cheek I assure you. Soccer does require an incredible amount of athleticism, and honestly watching the NBA these days soccer doesn’t have the money on diving and faking injury.
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…and THIS is why I don’t watch the NBA any more.
Well, among other reasons.
Braves had one heck of a home opener there against the Cubbies Monday- looks like they were still angry about the trouncing they got from Philly over the weekend (and rightly so).
Also, for the record, Philadelphia sports fans are only a quarter step below Boston sports fans in terms of level of awfulness.
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I take umbrage with that! We are at least ½ a step below Boston fans! 
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