Comments on: Johnny Bench critiques Buster Posey’s positioning at home plate

By: swisher4mayor

swisher4mayor — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 18:53:11 +0000

someday bicepts…..someday youll experience the feeling of more than 3 thumbs up….someday

By: haligert

haligert — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 22:45:12 +0000

I concur with your observations. It’s about the the conclusiveness of the video. There will always be others who just feel the need to comment in a negative manner and “stir the pot”.

By: ditto65

ditto65 — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 18:44:09 +0000

And Posey is turning to apply the tag.

As if he has the ball.

The baserunner’s job now is to knock that ball loose, not concede defeat and slide.

By: raysfan1

raysfan1 — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:45:35 +0000

“…both players could have done things (positioning/sliding) differently, but it played out as it did, and he got hurt…”
.
Yes, exactly, JB. Thank you.
.
I’d like to think though that all MLB teams use tapes like this to teach situational awareness to the players in order to try to minimize the frequency of these injuries though, because they are preventable. Without rules changes.

By: metalhead65

metalhead65 — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:42:44 +0000

when the best catcher to ever play the game speaks then you listen and learn and that is the end of the discussion. I do not care what other so called experts have to say, his opinion is the only one that should matter.

By: JB (the original)

JB (the original) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:28:48 +0000

You know, if Buster Posey wasn’t pinned a “star of the future”/savior player this controversy wouldn’t even exist. It was a clean hard play, where both players could have done things (positioning/sliding) differently, but it played out as it did, and he got hurt. Now tell, me, how is this any different than Nick Swisher’s take-out slide of Nishioka which broke his leg? Nishi’s positioning, Swisher’s “slide”, again, things could been differently, but the fact is, clean hard play and someone got hurt. So where’s all the screaming and yelling to change the rules to eliminate take out slides? Where’s all the death threats to Nick Swisher? (not that he should be getting any, but just making the comparison). Sh*t happens, sometimes to superstars, sometimes not. Let it go and move on to tomorrow…..

By: bigdicktater

bigdicktater — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:06:50 +0000

Jimbo: I don’t think the folks that gave you a thumbs down know their history as well as you do.

By: raysfan1

raysfan1 — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 16:39:02 +0000

…yep, Posey’s body is in front of the plate, but at that same point in the clip please notice that the left foot and ankle are between the runner and the plate–which is what I said above in my earlier posting.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 14:59:46 +0000

Instead, why don’t you trust your own eyes and form your own opinion?

http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?c_id=sf&content_id=15201733

If you pause it at the point of collision (the 15 sec mark), you can see that both of Posey’s knees are on the ground in FRONT of the batters box. He is at least 2 feet from the front edge of the plate.

By: doslea33

doslea33 — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 14:44:23 +0000

And of course being a MLB hall of fame catcher, you would know.

Pardon me if trust Johnny Bench’s eyes more than yours.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 14:28:48 +0000

The reason people are certain Posey gave Cousins a path to the plate is because the fact is so clear on the video. In fact, if you pause it at the point of impact, you can see the ball on the ground between Posey and the plate. In other words, not only did Posey give him the plate, but there was clearly space between Posey and the plate.

It is hard not to feel certain of something when there is clear video evidence of it. You won’t find any comment I’ve made that says the Cousins play was dirty, but it clearly was not necessary. I have no horse in this race not caring about the Marlins, Giants, NL East, or NL West. I’m just annoyed by so many people showing their bias by ignoring strong video evidence….like Bench deciding that Posey must have done something wrong, when in reality, it was just an unlucky event.

If you read Bench’s comments and then watch the video, Posey appears to be doing EXACTLY what Bench says he teaches kids to do. He did give Cousins a clear lane, but Cousins didn’t think “slide”. Rather, he chose to ignore the plate and run over the catcher.

By: doslea33

doslea33 — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 14:13:51 +0000

I’ve never played major league baseball so I don’t know what I am talking about.

If Johnny Bench said it was Buster Posey’s fault, it was Buster Posey’s fault.

By: PanchoHerreraFanClub

PanchoHerreraFanClub — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:18:27 +0000

I really don’t know what to know until Tim McCarver weighs in on the subject. Wake me when he has finished.

By: haligert

haligert — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 12:51:42 +0000

I’ve watched this video re-play several times and from the different angles. Clearly Cousins leaves the foul ground base path area and heads into the fair territory part of the base path at about 10 + feet from the plate. I will not say that it was Cousins intent to hurt Posey but “it appears to me” (in other words just my perception) his intent was more about taking out Posey then sliding safely into home. Like many other sports “stuff often happens in the moment”. It is unfortunate for Posey to be sidelined for the rest of the season, and wrong for Cousins (and family) to be getting “death threats”. Everyone is entitled to their own “perception/opinion” as is Mr. Bench (we live in a country that thanks to the committment of our soldiers is one with free thought and speech).

By: cktai

cktai — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 09:59:25 +0000

[quote] Too many of these “expert” opinions read like the person watched the video once at full speed and didn’t bother to watch it again looking for details when so many things happened in quick succession.[unquote]

Hey guess what, Scott Cousins only watched the play once at full speed, and when he watched it, he perceived that Posey was blocking the plate. Whether or not Posey was actually blocking the plate, and exactly what percentage of the plate could have been visible when looking from different angles at slow motions is all irrelevant for the decision that Cousins made. In that split-second, one chance only look he had, he thought Posey blocked the plate, so he acted accordingly.

By: jeffbbf

jeffbbf — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 05:27:01 +0000

paperlions…Really, let it go. it’s obvious you never played the game past age 12- if you are blocking the baseline, you are halfway in foul territory – the baseline takes you on the outside of home plate. If a catcher stands with his left foot on the inside of the 3rd base line, he is blocknig 80% of home plate. The runner has his head down, running as fast as he can, looking for the middle of home plate. He saw 80% of Posey, 20% of open base. And yes, according to the weekend softball warrior, he should have tried to sneak in to that 20% of the base without even thinking of trying to knock the ball out of Posey’s hand. Posey thought he had the ball, which is why he swiped the tag. Why wouldn’t the runner? Your arguments are tired and worn out. Try listening to the greatest catcher of all time who contradicts everything you are saying. But no..you know more than him.

By: cur68

cur68 — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 04:30:02 +0000

how i saw it too.

By: dwishinsky

dwishinsky — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 03:03:06 +0000

Part of the problem with this is everyone watching it in slow motion. The play happened at full speed. Decisions are made at full speed not super slo mo. Its very easy to determine if a ball is fair/foul in slo mo. If a pitch is a strike/ball in slow motion. Cousins isn’t a villain he saw what he saw and made his decision, so did Posey. Sucks Posey got injured. Sucks Cousins got vilified. I’m tired of hearing about all this though and people saying “watch it frame by frame”. No one drives a car “frame by frame” which is why we have car accidents. No one plays baseball “frame by frame” which is why this happened.

By: aronmantoo

aronmantoo — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 01:58:55 +0000

Pete Rose destroyed Ray Fosse at home plate in an all star game. It didn’t get this much press. If it was a second or third string catcher it might not even gotten a patragraph

By: clydeserra

clydeserra — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 01:12:24 +0000

This is exactly what was happening.

By: biglouie15

biglouie15 — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 01:11:59 +0000

Having seen the replays more than a half-dozen times, I wanted to give Cousins the benefit of the doubt but the more I saw it, the more I was convinced he lowered his head and shoulders and went right at Posey. The 3rd base side of the plate was uncovered and he had the opportunity to slide into the right hand batters box and tag the plate with his left hand.

In my opinion, he made no motion to tag the plate, his sole intent was to spear Posey.

By: nps6724

nps6724 — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 00:39:59 +0000

What do you think?

By: ray14sgirl

ray14sgirl — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 00:16:00 +0000

Is it possible that Cousins was anticipating Posey making the catch and moving in front of the plate to block it, which would then mean having to make contact? This type of play happens all the time in baseball.

By: ray14sgirl

ray14sgirl — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 00:09:52 +0000

not funny

By: ray14sgirl

ray14sgirl — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 00:08:57 +0000

that is scarcasm, right?

By: fquaye149

fquaye149 — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 23:47:41 +0000

I mean, read this line from Bench’s statement: ” I teach my kids to stay away from the plate when you don’t have the ball so the runner actually sees home plate and his thought is, slide.”

Does that sound at all like a macho ex-jock talking about how contact at home plate is “no big deal” and “the rules don’t need to be changed because in my day players were tough”?

By: fquaye149

fquaye149 — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 23:46:32 +0000

Well…okay…except it really isn’t. Johnny Bench isn’t saying “As a catcher you’re supposed to take a beating. Posey needs to quit being a wimp and rubbing dirt on it.” The quotation above seems to say, “There’s a right and a wrong way to avoid contact on a play at the plate. There’s nothing wrong with avoiding contact but Posey didn’t do it the right way.”

There’s no doubt there’s a “macho posturing” aspect to MLB players–particularly ex-MLB players. But I’m not sure where in Bench’s statement is there anything resembling that. If anything he’s advocating that Posey better learn to avoid contact….which seems to be about the opposite of what two of the three above commenters are reading into this.

By: stew48

stew48 — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 23:30:43 +0000

Having watched the replay several times, I was very surprised at Bench’s comment. I just happen to be one of those who thought a clear path to the plate existed and Cousins had decided he had to run into the catcher; only, the catcher was in front of the plate, so he veered to his left and bam! Now, of course, my opinion is just that, but having it doesn’t make me anything different that before I expressed it.

By: nps6724

nps6724 — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 23:15:55 +0000

What does Johnny Bench know about catching anyway?

By: thomas2727

thomas2727 — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 22:31:27 +0000

Exactly. This is the same type of baseball peer pressure that had a large percentage players chewing tobacco in dugouts for over 100 years