Arizona D-Backs Fans Suck
Tonight Justin Upton clearly violated the rules. It was absolutely interference. The rules call for that play to be ruled, effectively, a double play. The umps did the right thing, no question.
And the fans either don't know the rules or don't care: they proceeded to showe the field with debris.
(Not that I can blame the fans: even D-Backs manager Bob Melvin later said the slide was not illegal, because Upton "could get the base." But that's not what the rule says. Most of the commentators are wrong too, they are saying the slide would have been legal if he didn't raise his arm, but that's not true.)
Some may say, hey Pudge, the Red Sox fans did that in the 1999 ALCS. The difference is that the umps had, in that game -- for the second time that series -- called Jose Offerman out after "Knobby" completely missed the tag. And when Nomar was incorrectly called out at first, the fans lost it.
I am not saying the fans were right to throw stuff on the field. They weren't. I am saying they were right that the umps were wrong (and horribly wrong).
And frankly, what the Sox fans did in the 1999 ALCS (against the Yankees) helped improve officiating in baseball. That was one of the events that forced the MLB to adopt various new procedures, especially the "ump huddle."
Incidentally, A-Rod earlier this year, infamously, did almost the exact same slide against Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox. He was not called for interference. He should have been. But since A-Rod is crying at home now, it's all good.
And the fans either don't know the rules or don't care: they proceeded to showe the field with debris.
(Not that I can blame the fans: even D-Backs manager Bob Melvin later said the slide was not illegal, because Upton "could get the base." But that's not what the rule says. Most of the commentators are wrong too, they are saying the slide would have been legal if he didn't raise his arm, but that's not true.)
Some may say, hey Pudge, the Red Sox fans did that in the 1999 ALCS. The difference is that the umps had, in that game -- for the second time that series -- called Jose Offerman out after "Knobby" completely missed the tag. And when Nomar was incorrectly called out at first, the fans lost it.
I am not saying the fans were right to throw stuff on the field. They weren't. I am saying they were right that the umps were wrong (and horribly wrong).
And frankly, what the Sox fans did in the 1999 ALCS (against the Yankees) helped improve officiating in baseball. That was one of the events that forced the MLB to adopt various new procedures, especially the "ump huddle."
Incidentally, A-Rod earlier this year, infamously, did almost the exact same slide against Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox. He was not called for interference. He should have been. But since A-Rod is crying at home now, it's all good.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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