Huckaby, Jeter & The Play

[Wolf Hopper]

From the ESPN Report:

Jeter was trying to advance an extra base on Jason Giambi's comebacker, an attempt to take advantage of Toronto's defense, which was shifted to the right side of the infield.

Huckaby ran up the line to field first baseman Carlos Delgado's throw. Jeter dived headfirst into the bag, and Huckaby fell, his shin guard driving into Jeter's shoulder.

"At the time, I was upset about it,'' Yankees infielder Todd Zeile said. "I thought it was a little bit overboard. It seemed like he stayed on him and drove him into the ground. After seeing it again, it looked a little bit more benign.''

Wilson called it a "dirty play.'' Huckaby called Jeter on his cell phone after the game to apologize.

"I didn't mean for things to go down the way they went down,'' Huckaby said. "By no means was I trying to hurt anybody on that play. It was one of those freak things.''

You know, in the post game conference, Jeter was asked if he thought it was a dirty play - - and, he said something like "I don't know. I was just looking for the bag and then I was hurt."

I sorta expected Jeter to say "No way. There's no way he's trying to hurt me there."

Because, in my eyes, no way was this a dirty play - - it was a hustling play by Huckaby. IMHO, he did what the catcher should do - - - and, if you want to run the risk of running that play, you have to expect that the guy manning that bag will be wearing catching gear, etc.

I was surprised by some of the comments in the quote - esp. Wilson. By now, everyone has probably seen 3 angles of it - - do you think it was a dirty play?

[nyyfanfrombirth]

I haven't been able to make up my mind. When I first saw it, I thought Huckaby was just instinctively blocking the bag, like he would if it was home plate. Then I read his comments and he denied that he was, he said he was simply trying to stop himself from overrunning the bag. Did he have to drop both knees like that? I don't know. It also did seem to me that he stayed on top of Jeter a little longer than he should have.

It was such a weird play and a weird combination of events. If the "Giambi shift" isn't on, Jeter isn't trying to take the extra base and the catcher isn't at third. Weird play and a tough loss for the Yanks, but they can suck it up and take care of business.

[SmedIndy]

Wilson should shaddap - play ball.

[gyb13]

i think it was fine... could he have given him a little extra? sure... people do it all the time in contact sports - if you're gonna hit him anyways, give him a little something more to think about and next time he won't hustle as much or will be more tentative - it works like a beauty

[JamesI]

The play wasn't dirty.

[KCBOOMER]

Huckaby was hustling to make a play, nothin more.

[sweaver]

It looked suspicious on the replay, but I only saw it once and haven't had a chance to reflect on it.

[LeGrandOrange]

It was dirty in the sense that it involved sliding and getting your uniform unclean. Otherwise suggesting it's dirty sounds like the theory of an annoyed Yankee fan.

[qtlaw]

No way it was a dirty play. The shoulder injury was a freak injury; how often does a guys shoulder hit the shin guard at just the right angle to cause a dislocation? If they ran that play a 100 times I doubt that it dislocates more than 5 times. The staying on top of Jeter has nothing to do with the injury, the dislocation occured at impact. The freakish thing about this play was that the Giambi shift was on, if its a standard alignment, no play. A shame. Jeter is a great guy and leader, even if he is a Yankee, and I hate to see him injured.

[nyy26wc]

It was a clean play.

[gyb13]

from Neyer:

Huckaby tried to block the bag -- which is against the rules, by the way -- but Jeter got his left hand between Huckaby's legs.

That didn't do him any good, though, because Huckaby knocked Jeter away from the base, then tagged him. Now, the rules clearly state that once the runner has touched the base, you can't forcibly remove him from it. That's exactly what Huckaby did, but for some reason third-base umpire Paul Emmel called Jeter out (which means Emmel blew two calls on the same play).

[WiredTiger]

There is no way this was a dirty play. In my mind Huckaby was hustling to make a play. It does make you think if sliding headfirst is ever worth it.

[satchel]

Originally posted by WiredTiger
There is no way this was a dirty play. In my mind Huckaby was hustling to make a play. It does make you think if sliding headfirst is ever worth it.

I agree on all points.

[nyy26wc]

I don't know what Neyer was watching. There is absolutely no way that Huckaby was trying to block the base.

[Rajah]

Originally posted by nyy26wc
I don't know what Neyer was watching. There is absolutely no way that Huckaby was trying to block the base.

I think I saw the replay about 25 times (a little overkill courtesy of ESPN), and it looked to me like Huckaby, if anything, was trying to hit the dirt to avoid running into Jeter, and slid into him. He wasn't standing there, in the basepath trying to block the base (and I think its only illegal to block the base if you are in the basepath, seeing as how huckaby was coming up the third base line, I very much doubt he was in the basepath between 2nd and 3rd), he was running toward 3rd. He dropped down, and the collision occured. Looked like a clean play. Unfortunate, but clean.