@PABaseball posted:Right call, bad rule
Agree. The announcers in the following Astros game were talking about that play from the previous game and joking about how the outfielders in spring training next year would be practicing bumping the ball over the fence off a bounce.
As for the Grandal play, it was a gross and obvious display of gamesmanship on his part….and it worked. The rule is that the batter/runner establishes the line out of the box and only has to be in the designated path in the last 45 feet before 1st base. Grandal clearly did not take a direct path and bowed significantly into the infield in an attempt to disrupt the play at home.
In watching Dusty Baker argue, without the benefit of hearing what he was saying, it seemed he would have benefited from a cooler head and a more thought out argument. There has to be a limit to “establishing your line” as a batter runner, which I would argue was definitely exceeded here. Baker just lost his shit and yelled about Grandal being on the grass, from what I could discern on replay of the “discussion”, which on its own is not against the rules.
Here are two perspectives of Grandal’s position relative to the foul line as he leaves the box:
Here is Grendal’s position when he is impacted by the ball on his left arm just at the stripe on the bottom of his sleeve:
From the batter’s box he literally took a line directly at the fielder, not the base. I applaud the gamesmanship, particularly since it worked, but the Umpire can’t let that happen.