DETROIT -- Home plate was the center of attention at Target Field and Camden Yards on Sunday.
Plays at the plate were twice overturned by replay challenges, turning two outs into two runs. Both times an out call by the plate umpire was overturned by replay officials in New York. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli and Orioles manager Brandon Hyde were ejected for arguing the decisions.
In the wake of the ruling, more confusion than clarity exists over the 2014 rule that was introduced to protect catchers from collisions at the plate. The genesis of the rule came in 2011 when San Francisco’s Buster Posey was seriously injured in a collision at home.
The rule, while protecting catchers from being targeted by baserunners, calls for the catcher to leave a path to the plate for the runner. Replay officials ruled that Twins catcher Gary Sanchez and Orioles catcher Robinson Chirinos failed to do that for Toronto’s Whit Merrifield and Pittsburgh’s Greg Allen.
Sandy Alomar, the Guardians’ catching instructor, didn’t see either play, but said he encourages Cleveland’s catchers to take the throw in front of the plate as they determine the flight of the throw coming home. If the throw takes them into the path of the runner, and they are in possession of the ball, they are allowed to block the plate.
“But it’s a hard rule to interpret,” said Alomar.
Catcher Austin Hedges said he watched the play in which Sanchez tagged out Merrifield in the 10th inning at Target Field. Merrifield scored from third base on a sacrifice fly to left field for what proved to be the winning run in a 3-2 victory.
“Anytime there is a play at the plate you have to establish where you’re going to be,” said Hedges. “It’s part of the mechanics and techniques of doing it. You have to give them (the runner) a lane. There’s a spot I always go to depending if the throw is coming from left, center or right field.
“If you go there, the ball can take you into a lane. From what I saw, it didn’t look there was a lane established (by Sanchez for Merrifield).”
Luke Maile, the Guardians other catcher, said he watched the Merrifield-Sanchez play once, but didn’t study it closely.
“I’d like to see it again, but I haven’t seen that called in a really long time,” he said.
Maile said when he prepares for a play at the plate, he stands behind the plate.
“To me, if I start behind the plate and the throw takes me here (into the runner), I can always argue that the throw took me there,” he said. “If I start in front of the plate, there is a little more gray area. It’s up for more interpretation.
“If I start behind the plate, well, then I always have to come up to make this tag. ... I just treat it like I’m a third baseman. I just try to tag the guy with the glove unless something really strange is happening.”
Picture this
Manager Terry Francona walked into the visitor’s clubhouse at Comerica Park on Tuesday to find hundreds of unflattering pictures of himself working out taped to the walls throughout the clubhouse. It was the latest chapter in the prank war between Rays manager Kevin Cash and Francona.
Francona only has himself to blame. On the Guardians’ first trip to Detroit this season, pictures of every manager in the American League were hung in his office. Francona quickly taped an X over Cash’s picture. The Rays were just in Detroit for a four-game series, which gave Cash plenty of time to plot his revenge.
Rolling, rolling, rolling
The Guardians were supposed to fly from Cleveland to Detroit on Monday evening, but mechanical issues grounded them. Instead they motored to the Motor City in three buses.
“It’s lucky we weren’t going to Seattle,” laughed one member of G’s traveling party.
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