BY SportingNews.com

One of the more poignant letters I received last week -- and that is not to say the various ones focusing on my IQ and parental lineage were not poignant -- was from a reader who criticized me for writing about the Rays-Yankees dust-up last weekend. Only the media, I was told, keeps up these kinds of discussions. The next day, Rays batter Evan Longoria got plunked, Yankees runner Shelley Duncan slid into Akinori Iwamura with his spikes thigh-high, and both benches cleared. Which, I suppose is the media's fault.

There was no shortage of opinions on the subject throughout the week, and because of that all the Rays-Yankees emails elbowed out the other emails I got. So we're going with all Rays-Yankees, all the time this week. Enjoy!

Sean: Spring training or not, guys are trying to win roster spots. Is Girardi kidding? That play at the plate is a fundamental play in baseball and I believe that if [Elliot Johnson] didn't knock over the catcher, he would have been cut that day. -- Ralph DiBattista

Ralph: If Johnson makes the Rays, he is going to make the team because he could be valuable as a pinch runner. That's the reality, and Johnson most likely knows it. Don't you want your pinch runners to run the bases correctly?

Sean: I've watched this play many times and still cringe when someone barrels into the catcher blocking the plate. You'd think by now that the pros would teach catchers how to put a tag on the runner without blocking the plate. The reasonable solution to prevent this type of injury is to put a second plate away from the catcher's box as in senior softball and the ump makes the call as to who gets home first, the ball, or the runner. -- Craig Tippins

Craig: Interesting suggestion. But they're not playing senior softball out there. It's baseball, and though it is as hazardous a play as there is in baseball, I don't think plays at the plate are so dangerous they need to be banned.

Sean: You are correct that running over a catcher is the proper baseball play, but so is Girardi in that it is spring training and players should take it a bit safer/easier in exhibition games. Was Pete Rose wrong for running over Ray Fosse in the All-Star game? You bet, he was. Why? Because it was an exhibition game. The fault lies in the third base coach who sent the runner home. He is responsible for making sure he sends a runner home when there won't be a play at the plate. Each player did, in a bang-bang play, what he has been trained to do. The third base coach is the one who should have protected both players by avoiding the situation all together. -- Carl

Carl: I got the Pete Rose-Ray Fosse comparison a lot here, and I just don't think it adds up. Spring games are not exhibitions. Johnson is a minor leaguer trying to make a team. He could be in the big leagues at some point this year. Or, he could be putting around in a bus in Durham, N.C. He has limited chances to impress his manager, and this was one of those chances. Also, the coach at third should absolutely have sent the runner. Part of the reason we have spring training is to practice game situations.

Sean: You should Google yourself. You've clearly already got a reputation as a pathetic Rays homer. Maybe you should stop writing obvious homer articles and you'll get off the Rays beat, the obvious armpit of the American League. -- Patrick Benjamin

Patrick: I never Google myself in public. It might interfere with my job as a Rays homer. It is, however, disturbing to know that you're Googling me in private. Yikes.

Sean: You clearly don't know it's AGAINST THE RULES to block the plate. It clearly states you can't block the plate. And, no, it's never been part of the game. -- L.S. Stay Real

L.S.: Staying real here. But you are wrong here -- or, you are at least wrong to say the rulebook is definitive on the subject. Rule 7.06 says:

"The catcher, without the ball in his possession, has no right to block the pathway of the runner attempting to score. The base line belongs to the runner and the catcher should be there only when he is fielding a ball or when he already has the ball in his hand."

The key phrase is, "when fielding a ball or when he already has the ball in hand." Over the years, that has been interpreted to mean that if the catcher gets the throw before the runner arrives, he has the right to be there. Is it the correct interpretation? Maybe, maybe not. But in any system of rules there is place for precedent, and in baseball, the precedent on how to interpret a play at the plate is clear.

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