Thler Greene's slide

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

It's been a while since I've played, but wtf is this.

http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/mlb/ga ... mode=video

Shouldn't he have done a hook slide or flat out bowled him over?

[Jmodene]

Looks like the catcher had the plate blocked while waiting for the ball. If he had held onto the ball, he might well have gotten the call.

I suspect Tyler probably didn't think the play was going to be that close. If he had, he might have tried to slide differently, or, as you suggest, knock the guy down.

That said, I haven't seem many guys doing the old hook slide lately; more often, you see them doing the head-first slide and trying to catch a corner of the bag or plate with their hand.

[Fat Strat]

I thought it was a good slide for the play. The catcher's leg was blocking the plate, so he went after the one part of the body blocking the plate in a way that also allowed him to get to the plate if he wasn't big enough/strong enough to move the catcher's leg. He slid so that both his legs rammed the catcher's left leg... a great way to avoid injury yourself, while giving you the best chance to put the catcher off balance. It worked nicely, since the catcher was falling when the ball arrived and had no chance to field it cleanly.

You know someone is the new whipping boy when the forum is criticizing him for the way that he took out the catcher while scoring the game winning run in extras of a 1-1 game against the rival Reds.

[cpebbles]

The catcher was ignoring a very explicit rule in MLB's rulebook, and if the umpires know their job he was safe and the game was over no matter what happened after he made contact with the catcher. As I said yesterday, level the [expletive] and maybe a season spent on the DL will allow him sufficient time to read the rulebook.

[Jmodene]

The catcher was ignoring a very explicit rule in MLB's rulebook, and if the umpires know their job he was safe and the game was over no matter what happened after he made contact with the catcher. As I said yesterday, level the [expletive] and maybe a season spent on the DL will allow him sufficient time to read the rulebook.

The umps generally will let a catcher block the plate the way this guy did, though - he was right on top of the plate, waiting for the throw. It's when they're five or ten feet up the third base line and blocking the plate that things get bad. Back in the 1980's, that style of plate-blocking was endemic in baseball; Mike Scioscia was particularly notorious for it.

[mcgee51taguchi99]

Thler is an awesome nickname. I hope it sticks.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I'm not trying to make him the whipping boy, but look at this picture. The ball is hidden by TG and the catcher here. The catcher blocked the plate and stopped TG from scoring; Greene ended up sitting up and hitting the plated with his hand. Is that really how they teach it nowadays? Slide into his legs? Stop short of the plate, hope the slide takes him out and then get up and touch the plate? I can't imagine that's correct.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Here it is right before. He's sliding into a wall. I'll stand by my original statement that he either bulldozes him or avoids him by going a foot or two outside the foul line instead of inside it.

[Jmodene]

The point, though, is that by modern standards, that's a perfectly legal block of the plate. As I say, I think Tyler wasn't expecting the play to be that close, hence the somewhat-awkward slide.

[Popeye_Card]

Good way to injure either himself or the catcher. Should have gone for the hook slide. But I've never gotten the sense that Greene's baseball IQ is overly high.