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I don't think it's nitpicking at all. I thought the very same thing, ie either level the C or go wide. Then I wondered if Greene saw/felt that he could take out the catcher's mitt. I dunno, looked like a bad slide with a good result to me.

mcgee51taguchi99 wrote:Thler is an awesome nickname. I hope it sticks.

Exactly what I was thinking.

Long live Thler!!!!

I thought about that last night as well. Didn't care because we won, but a better throw and catch and he'd have been dead to rights.

Popeye_Card wrote: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.

I don't particularly care if he had injured the catcher. Players at every other base seem to manage receiving throws without worrying about getting run over. The catcher can make his own decision how much risk he wants to take in that situation.

Jmodene wrote: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.

It was the bottom of the 10th in a 1-1 game where he was the winning run and surely Bruce didn't just learn how to throw during the game. If he didn't expect a close play, then I don't know what to say.

AWvsCBsteeeerike3 wrote:

Jmodene wrote: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.

It was the bottom of the 10th in a 1-1 game where he was the winning run and surely Bruce didn't just learn how to throw during the game. If he didn't expect a close play, then I don't know what to say.

Yeah, that's not much of a defense. The ball just wasn't that deep.

lukethedrifter wrote:

AWvsCBsteeeerike3 wrote:

Jmodene wrote: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.

It was the bottom of the 10th in a 1-1 game where he was the winning run and surely Bruce didn't just learn how to throw during the game. If he didn't expect a close play, then I don't know what to say.

Yeah, that's not much of a defense. The ball just wasn't that deep.

The FIRST thing I thought was this is going to be a close play. If he thought he was just going to slide in w/o a play at the plate he's not very smart.

vinsanity wrote:

Popeye_Card wrote: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.

I don't particularly care if he had injured the catcher. Players at every other base seem to manage receiving throws without worrying about getting run over. The catcher can make his own decision how much risk he wants to take in that situation.

a.) I do care about injuring players on the other team.

b.) Apples and oranges to some extent. Home plate is the only base that you slide through with no intent to stop. 1st is in a category of it's own. 2nd and 3rd, a runner is going to be in a very particular zone, and will need to stop at the bag--the defender only has to prepare for the throw and the tag towards an appropriate zone. If a catcher positioned himself at the plate like a 3B protects 3rd, he wouldn't tag many guys out.

c.) Could a 3B/2B/SS receive throws into a catcher's mitt and be able to make the plays that they do?

I think Greene definitely thought it was going to be a close play. But, I still think it was a good slide for the play after looking at those screen shots. First, Mesoraco has at least 35 pounds on Greene (190 to 225 at BR). Bowling him over was not a good option at all and probably would have ended badly for Greene -- he probably wouldn't have reached the plate and would have risked serious injury. Secondly, Mesoraco's weight was over his right leg, in front of the plate. On Greene's line, he wasn't running into a 225 lb wall. The part blocking access to the plate was the weakest part of the catcher's stance - the left leg, back on the line, but without his full weight over it.

Greene slid into the weakest part of the catcher with the strongest part of his body -- both legs, with his full body behind them, hitting one leg w/o fully body weight supporting it. He completely collapsed the legs of a much heavier catcher, sending the catcher tumbling to the ground face first and preventing him from even receiving the ball. All the while Greene avoided heavy contact that could have led to an injury for him (injury risk for Mesoraco was pretty high in the slide), and in the process Greene gave himself easy access to the plate with his arms or legs.

You might not teach it that way, but it was a highly effective and even smart way to do it. Hook slide, as I said, would have been better, probably, but you run the risk of sliding right past the plate and not being able to get back... which gives the catcher more time to field the ball cleanly and get back to block the plate again.

I agree with Fat. Slide around him and you chance a sweep tag. This was the best way to take out the bigger catcher - at his legs.