Umpire explanation of call

[areacodes]

The silly thing about all this to me is the timing of it.

 

IF Vogelbach had his foot on the base right away and the out was recorded sooner, it wouldn’t have been interference.

 

IF Godley fielded it later and was in the process of getting the ball when Diaz was near, it wouldn’t have been interference.

 

IF Godley bobbled the ball and had to throw it from behind Diaz, it wouldn’t have been interference on Godley but instead would have been on Diaz for being out of the basepath and in the throwing lane (the same if the ball wasn’t hit as far and Godley or the catcher fielded the ball closer to home).

 

IF Godley stopped directly in front of Diaz and tagged him... and so on.

 

Diaz was clearly out with or without where Godley was standing so it seems like IF this is technically correct by the rule, it wasn’t the intention of the rule.

[MrTPlush]

Does the league ever call out an umpires decision though. Unless it involves a lay resulting in a fine or suspension, I don't recall the league making any comments on any egrious calls. Maybe I am misremembering.

 

Rarely but that is because ESPN and other major news outlets usually don't care enough unless it is the postseason...especially not the scrub markets of Milwaukee/Miami playing each other. NFL and the NBA always have to answer these things because national media brings pitchforks and torches to the main office.

[MrTPlush]

Diaz was clearly out with or without where Godley was standing so it seems like IF this is technically correct by the rule, it wasn’t the intention of the rule.

 

Pretty much a one sentence summary of the situation. It is like replay and teams challenging a steal where the runner beat the throw by a mile, but here we are challenging it to see if his finger popped off for a half millisecond while he was sliding in.

 

Like I said before, sometimes you wish officials for a sport just would turn a blind eye to stuff because no one is going to care they didn't call something. Would any Marlins person ever mention a missed interference call there? I really doubt it. It is like the basketball ref who needs to call a travel with 5 seconds left and a score of 100-80.

[StearnsFTW]

The explanation is almost as dumb as the call.

 

Almost.

[SeaBass]

It was a garbage call and there's really no defending it. Every replay I see they show Godley with the ball and the runner isn't even in the frame yet. Can a runner just stand at home plate and "line up" so that a player is between him and first base so he can get an obstruction call even if he's 60 feet away? Because that's what this felt like.

 

Also all the Marlins defending the call is hilarious. To me it looks like this is something I could see as being coached into them by Mattingly, meaning running in the grass on a play that's down the line just in case a situation like this might happen.

 

Ultimately it's like any other bad call, you have to play through it to get yourself out of it and the Brewers didn't.

[RightFieldCoder]

Rule 6.01(h ) Comment: If a fielder is about to receive a

thrown ball and if the ball is in flight directly toward and near

enough to the fielder so he must occupy his position to receive

the ball he may be considered “in the act of fielding a ball.” It

is entirely up to the judgment of the umpire as to whether a

fielder is in the act of fielding a ball. 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: 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.

Godley was no longer in the act of fielding. It is entirely an umpire's judgement if he is interfering with the runner. Since that was the active runner they were attempting to put out the ball is instantly dead and he is awarded the base. It doesn't matter that the runner would have been out without the interference. The league will back the umpire because this was all within the rules. The judgement of the empire may be questioned by us but it wouldn't look good if the league publicly said that.

[areacodes]

But Godley didn’t miss the ball.

[brooks_quichenick]

Watching the handful of people who are trying to contort themselves into defending this call as a correct interpretation of the rule is almost as stupid as that call was.

 

It was really, really bad. The Brewers didn't do themselves any favors after the fact, obviously.

[MrTPlush]

Every replay I see they show Godley with the ball and the runner isn't even in the frame yet.

 

The problem isn't when Godley has the ball, it is when he doesn't have the ball. Once he threw the ball he completed the act of making a play.

 

I think the problem and why the umpire made a judgement call to make it interference comes down to Vogelbach catching the ball not on the bag. He then had to look down and find the bag. During that time Godley is still in the way of Diaz's running lane. If Vogelbach catches that ball on the bag I don't think the umpire decides to make that call.

 

The one problem I am having is the fact he deemed Godley done committing a baseball play. When exactly is a baseball play done? The ball left his hand and maybe Vogelbach caught it...but jeez Godley only took 3 step towards first after it left his hand and the out was made. The rule basically states it is a judgement call for the umpire to make so it almost can't be 'wrong' according to the rule...but with that I guess I see the umpires judgement as rather poor there.

[MrTPlush]

Watching the handful of people who are trying to contort themselves into defending this call as a correct interpretation of the rule is almost as stupid as that call was.

 

It was really, really bad. The Brewers didn't do themselves any favors after the fact, obviously.

 

Please pull up the rule and point out why the umpires interpretation was incorrect. I think the call was dumb, but I am not entirely convinced it didn't technically follow some rule in the rule book.

 

It appears all you can do is call people stupid and provide literally nothing useful to the discussion yourself. That is pretty lame. At least some people want to have a productive conversation.

[jjfanec]

It definitely isnt just Brewer fans that think the call was awful. Just a quick collection

 

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/umpire-makes-awful-obstruction-call-185236575.html

 

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-umpire-marty-foster-stands-by-terrible-obstruction-call-in-brewers-marlins-game/

 

https://fansided.com/2021/04/28/marty-foster-blown-call-twitter-reaction/

[jerichoholicninja]

Check out Jomboy's breakdown. He has an angle where you can clearly see Diaz change his direction to run AT Godley as he's throwing the ball. Another thing I haven't seen mentioned is that Diaz was making no effort to hustle. As far as I'm concerned that's the same as the runner giving up and walking back to the dugout on a dropped 3rd strike and therefore an automatic out.

[brooks_quichenick]

Watching the handful of people who are trying to contort themselves into defending this call as a correct interpretation of the rule is almost as stupid as that call was.

 

It was really, really bad. The Brewers didn't do themselves any favors after the fact, obviously.

 

Please pull up the rule and point out why the umpires interpretation was incorrect. I think the call was dumb, but I am not entirely convinced it didn't technically follow some rule in the rule book.

 

It appears all you can do is call people stupid and provide literally nothing useful to the discussion yourself. That is pretty lame. At least some people want to have a productive conversation.

 

I'm going off of what you and one or two other defenders have posted and I still don't see anything convincing enough to defend that bureaucratic interpretation of the rule. It's worth noting that outside of Marty Foster and the Miami Marlins, I haven't seen anyone else in the baseball world online trying to defend the call as being correct. Diaz was on the grass, dogging it to first, and was clearly out via force at 1B before Marty decided he wanted the spotlight.

 

A little common sense can go a very long way. If that is the type of call MLB can defend as a correct interpretation of a rule, than maybe this league just deserves to lose fans.

[MrTPlush]

Watching the handful of people who are trying to contort themselves into defending this call as a correct interpretation of the rule is almost as stupid as that call was.

 

It was really, really bad. The Brewers didn't do themselves any favors after the fact, obviously.

 

Please pull up the rule and point out why the umpires interpretation was incorrect. I think the call was dumb, but I am not entirely convinced it didn't technically follow some rule in the rule book.

 

It appears all you can do is call people stupid and provide literally nothing useful to the discussion yourself. That is pretty lame. At least some people want to have a productive conversation.

 

I'm going off of what you and one or two other defenders have posted and I still don't see anything convincing enough to defend that bureaucratic interpretation of the rule. It's worth noting that outside of Marty Foster and the Miami Marlins, I haven't seen anyone else in the baseball world online trying to defend the call as being correct. Diaz was on the grass, dogging it to first, and was clearly out via force at 1B before Marty decided he wanted the spotlight.

 

A little common sense can go a very long way. If that is the type of call MLB can defend as a correct interpretation of a rule, than maybe this league just deserves to lose fans.

 

Because who is going to think about it that in depth? Even JomBoy, about the only person that breaks down a play intently, was completely wrong in his analysis. He thinks Diaz stepped over towards Godley in the grass to draw the interference. That is just flat out wrong. Diaz started in the grass and was in the grass the entire time.

 

Most people are going to stop before the rule even needs to be mentioned because it was a ridiculously unnecessary call. Right or wrong, the call is still beyond dumb to make. As I have said many times, sometimes you just don't need to make a call...and that was definitely one of those times. I am sure every other umpire in baseball watched that play afterwards and was like, "What an idiot, I would never call that."

[StearnsFTW]

Watching the handful of people who are trying to contort themselves into defending this call as a correct interpretation of the rule is almost as stupid as that call was.

 

It was really, really bad. The Brewers didn't do themselves any favors after the fact, obviously.

 

Amen.

[areacodes]

 

Please pull up the rule and point out why the umpires interpretation was incorrect. I think the call was dumb, but I am not entirely convinced it didn't technically follow some rule in the rule book.

 

It appears all you can do is call people stupid and provide literally nothing useful to the discussion yourself. That is pretty lame. At least some people want to have a productive conversation.

 

I'm going off of what you and one or two other defenders have posted and I still don't see anything convincing enough to defend that bureaucratic interpretation of the rule. It's worth noting that outside of Marty Foster and the Miami Marlins, I haven't seen anyone else in the baseball world online trying to defend the call as being correct. Diaz was on the grass, dogging it to first, and was clearly out via force at 1B before Marty decided he wanted the spotlight.

 

A little common sense can go a very long way. If that is the type of call MLB can defend as a correct interpretation of a rule, than maybe this league just deserves to lose fans.

 

Because who is going to think about it that in depth? Even JomBoy, about the only person that breaks down a play intently, was completely wrong in his analysis. He thinks Diaz stepped over towards Godley in the grass to draw the interference. That is just flat out wrong. Diaz started in the grass and was in the grass the entire time.

 

Most people are going to stop before the rule even needs to be mentioned because it was a ridiculously unnecessary call. Right or wrong, the call is still beyond dumb to make. As I have said many times, sometimes you just don't need to make a call...and that was definitely one of those times. I am sure every other umpire in baseball watched that play afterwards and was like, "What an idiot, I would never call that."

 

While Diaz did start in the grass, he had already started to move towards the dirt as I mentioned earlier. You can clearly see the strip of grass from the grounds crew (that is at least a couple feet wide) and where his feet are in relationship to that.

 

- Diaz starts on the grass

- About 3 or 4 steps from Godley, Diaz’s right foot is now on the edge of the dirt/grass and left foot in the middle of the strip of grass.

- Right by Godley he takes a jab to his left and now his left foot is pretty much on the far left edge of the grass.

- When he’s next to Godley, he makes his move to the right and his right foot is now about a foot on the dirt (so he moved about as far to the right as he had moved to the left steps before).

 

ETA: if I wasn’t posting from my phone at work, I’d try and get some screenshots of it.

[Hopper]

This is getting kind of funny.

Everyone knows that call was stupid.

It is interesting that we have people who say it was the dumbest call ever, and we have people actually justifying it.

There is no way that should have been called, just no possible chance that any other umpire on the face of this earth would have made that call on that specific play.

[Baldkin]

Note where Diaz' right foot is.

 

 

He ran away from first base to run into Godley.

[MrTPlush]

I don't think there has been anyone to say that call should have been made, I must be missing it. Even if, by rule, it was technically a proper call I don't think anyone wants to see a petty meaningless call get called like that. Its was 100% a dumb call to make.

[SeaBass]

Please pull up the rule and point out why the umpires interpretation was incorrect. I think the call was dumb, but I am not entirely convinced it didn't technically follow some rule in the rule book.

 

It appears all you can do is call people stupid and provide literally nothing useful to the discussion yourself. That is pretty lame. At least some people want to have a productive conversation.

 

I'm going off of what you and one or two other defenders have posted and I still don't see anything convincing enough to defend that bureaucratic interpretation of the rule. It's worth noting that outside of Marty Foster and the Miami Marlins, I haven't seen anyone else in the baseball world online trying to defend the call as being correct. Diaz was on the grass, dogging it to first, and was clearly out via force at 1B before Marty decided he wanted the spotlight.

 

A little common sense can go a very long way. If that is the type of call MLB can defend as a correct interpretation of a rule, than maybe this league just deserves to lose fans.

 

Because who is going to think about it that in depth? Even JomBoy, about the only person that breaks down a play intently, was completely wrong in his analysis. He thinks Diaz stepped over towards Godley in the grass to draw the interference. That is just flat out wrong. Diaz started in the grass and was in the grass the entire time.

 

Most people are going to stop before the rule even needs to be mentioned because it was a ridiculously unnecessary call. Right or wrong, the call is still beyond dumb to make. As I have said many times, sometimes you just don't need to make a call...and that was definitely one of those times. I am sure every other umpire in baseball watched that play afterwards and was like, "What an idiot, I would never call that."

I guess I'm not seeing any progress if you're trying to convince people the call makes sense. It was a stupid and incredibly unnecessary call even if it might loosely come close to the letter of the rule. Even then the timing is so incredibly close to occurring simultaneously with Vogelbach stepping on the bag that it just makes it look absurd.

 

It was dumb and it's not going to stop being dumb.

[MrTPlush]

I mean, you can keep typing but you're getting literally nowhere if you're actually trying to convince anyone to see it your way. It was a stupid and incredibly unnecessary call even if it might loosely come close to the letter of the rule. Even then the timing is so incredibly close to occurring simultaneously with Vogelbach stepping on the bag that it just makes it look absurd.

 

It was dumb and it's not going to stop being dumb.

 

This is good, cause I have already said and agreed with this a dozen times

 

I will stop typing because clearly people aren't reading.

[areacodes]

Note where Diaz' right foot is.

 

He ran away from first base to run into Godley.

 

Thanks for uploading those... that is exactly what I was talking about.

 

Can you get one that shows his step to the left and back to the right where he gets the interference call?

[SeaBass]

I mean, you can keep typing but you're getting literally nowhere if you're actually trying to convince anyone to see it your way. It was a stupid and incredibly unnecessary call even if it might loosely come close to the letter of the rule. Even then the timing is so incredibly close to occurring simultaneously with Vogelbach stepping on the bag that it just makes it look absurd.

 

It was dumb and it's not going to stop being dumb.

 

This is good, cause I have already said and agreed with this a dozen times

 

I will stop typing because clearly people aren't reading.

Yeah I'm sorry I said that, not because of your reply but it was over the top and I apologize for saying it (and I edited it in my post).

 

But I'm glad we agree it was dumb, I know you said it was too but I don't think it's justified like you do and that, as you knew, was my point.

[B-Train]

Clearly guys like Coach Cooper and Don Mattingly teach this in their baserunning drills. Old school tricks.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Didn't something happen in the Mexican League last year (or two years ago) where the batter swung and missed and the umpire called a ball?

 

https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/07/20/mexican-league-umpires-suspended-missed-strike-call-video

 

The bunt missed call is not that far from this clip, honestly.

 

As to the interference, rules are often written to be vague enough to allow for a wide berth of interpretations. Mostly, this is done to to keep power in the hands of certain people (look at how my health insurance company interprets coverage documents, or the people in charge of my car warranty can plausibly deny claims they should, via the spirit of the agreement, cover). This just feels like an umpire using the flexibility the rulebook allows for in an utterly irresponsible way--to avoid taking ownership of a call that violates the entire concept of interference.

 

How he could watch that play and continue to defend that call is just self-delusion. It's way worse than the initial mistake to me. If he really thinks interference is justified in that scenario, then he and I are have totally different conceptions of baseball.