NYY@BOS: Umpires call for rules check on bizarre play

Manager directs team: from now on, if you are obviously going to be thrown out at second, turn around and charge the firstbaseman, because that is not ‘interference’.

The moral of this story? If you're on first, and see an obvious ground ball for a DP, turn your back, interfere at first, and get out of the DP. A horrible, horrible call. Rule 6.01(a)(5) regarding interference: "Any batter or runner who has just been put out, or any runner who has just scored, hinders or impedes any following play being made on a runner. Such runner shall be declared out for the interference of his teammate." There's no intent involved at all. If you hinder or impede, whether you meant to or not, the runner is out. Horrible, horrible call.

Just when you think that every situation has occurred and every rule has been written, voilà!!! The Yankee announcers were fair and impartial, good for them.

I love how they had sabotage playing in the background

So what was the eventual call? Watch for 10 mins and video finishes before the resul!

They both should've been out plain and simple. I can see where Holiday could be confused because the field ump did not signal out at 2nd but the first base ump should have called interference on Holiday too.

I'm a yankee fan. That should have been an out and the rule needs to be that if the runner interferes like that it's an out. Regardless of the likely result.

I am pretty sure this is the first time the commentators from the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) didn't side with the Yankees.

These types of plays are the reason baseball is an awesome sport. So many different scenarios.

What's bizarre about this?, is a forced out on second and interference on first so it's a double play

what the hell was that

Ultimately, the Red Sox protest was denied, predominantly because in order to be upheld the protested play has to have an impact on the final result of the game and the Yankees ended up not scoring in the inning. Had this play had an impact in the winning run scoring, the outcome might've been different. New York ended up winning 4-1 in the 16th.

On further review, there was no interference. The runner is out at second, but the batter was safe at first. The rules added the "Amended Rule 6.01(a)(5) Comment to clarify that a runner who IS RETURNING to his last legally touched base after being put out is considered the same as a runner who continues to advance after being put out relative to interfering with a subsequent play." (Emphasis added.) Here, the runner "was returning" to first base, and no other act contributed to the broken double play. The batter touched first base while the first baseman was chasing the ball, so the batter is not out for "not touching first base." The rules do not appear to make a batter out merely by being hit by a throw ball on the way to first base. One must credit the umps here.

Absolutely amazing to me that 4 MLB umpires could not get this call right. And it wasn't even difficult. It was a very simple, clear interference call on the runner. And it also baffles my mind why we have an instant replay system that is for some unknown reason not allowed to overturn this clearly botched call.

The result was safe and a protest. How can the umps miss when they have history play unbelievable

Was the stadium playing Time from Inception around 8:20? That's pretty damn good.

There two ways to look at it. One way is that Holiday is eliminated and should not have been involved at first. If you allow Ellsbury to be safe based on Holiday's interference, then a precedent is set and the sky is the limit of what that runner can do once the base runner is thrown out at second. If absolutely necessary during a routine double play, he could stop and stand in the way of the thrown to first and try to intentionally get hit. On the other hand, if the runner is out going into 2nd and he hits the fielder in a close play at 2nd and the fielder is unable to make the throw, the runner is out there too and like the other scenario, he is interfering with the play. There would have to be a ruling having to do with base runner plays at second being fundamentally different when compared to plays at first.

The most important takeaway? The announcers were right. With today's technology there is no reason the umpires shouldn't be explaining unusual calls over the PA, or at least sending a real-time explanation up to the booths.

That voice crack though 1:55

3:17. The coach says. “Ok then we have a difference in the rules and if that’s the case then I’m going to protest”. The guy on second was out PERIOD he should never have ran back to First. The rules stat. Any player that’s out in an active play must remove himself from any additional play if he is unable to move out of the way First then it would not be an out on first. But this guy was clearly out and had no business getting involved in the play at firsts.