Sunday night baseball, the last hope for fans clinging to the weekend before the beginning of the dread of a work week. In a late eighth inning attempt to score Astro’s outfielder Jake Marisnick had collided with Angels’ catcher Jonathon Lucroy. With review of the play at the plate it had appeared to be that Marisnick was avoiding contact by moving to the inside of the base path. Within the same time frame an inaccurate throw home cause Lucroy to adjust to the ball to make a play on the runner. Marisnick had began is head first slide toward home plate as Lucroy performed a military tactical slide as the two met. Considering the inability to control the human body in air and the near impossible fraction of time to react, Marisnick had appeared to purposely perform the act. While some are calling for Marisnick’s head on a platter, crying out for a suspension, I feel that no such action should be taken. Does it suck for Lucroy, who was transported to hospital for a CT scan and a fractured nose? Yes. Does it suck for Marisnick, who feels he caused injury to an undeserving player? Yes. It also sucks for Major League Baseball, who is forced to make a decision that will tip toe the line of player safety and correct ruling of the play. Personally I feel that this play fits within the ruling guideline and is more of situation of unfortunate timing and placement. I don’t agree with some fan opinions that its “old school baseball” and “that players now are babied by the league.” Collisions are scary for those witnessing and especially for players who are in the collision. Giants’ catcher Buster Posey was seriosuly injured after a collision eary in his career and arguably has not been the same player since. Later, Marisnick expalined his side of story on twitter. Hopefully Marisnick did not intentionally attempt to hurt Lucroy in his action of scoring, but all we have to do is trust his word for his intent.
Bleacher Bum 