Toronto Blue Jays (58-46) @ Minnesota Twins (55-49) - August 4-7

[WuTang_OG]

Good grind it out win. Twins tough team.

[canz55]

Mildly embarrassing win.

Romano choked in the 9th

Catcher not allowed to catch and tag. woot.

Romano didn't choke. He was facing the hottest batter in the American League who also hits left.

It was an intenable situation.

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[GoRapstheoriginal]

A BELATED JAYS WIN! JAYS WIN! WOOHOO! HOORAY! ! ! !

[Hottie McShotty]

I guess the catcher was supposed to spread his legs to allow for a lane while he’s catching the ball? What a farce.

We caught a break. Baldelli had every right to be pissed off. Did anyone catch the double FU to the replay crew when he was walking back to the dugout?

[Raider917]

NYY play Seattle next. a sweep against baltimore would be very very very good

[Randle McMurphy]

The rule is and has always been ridiculous (other fielders can block their bases but catchers can’t?). I also feel like umpires haven’t been enforcing it for years until that Orioles game a bit ago and now this one.

[linery88]

I think its a ridiculous rule,but its in place to protect the catcher from getting killed(best they can do)
This kind of play at the plate hasn,t happened in a long time,so who knows maybe the rule itself was totally forgotten here by Sanchez,but not Merrifield.
If Sanchez had moved slightly away from the plate ,Merrifield would have easily been out.
Imagine if Minny loses the division by one game to the Chisox.
Nice for us to win a game like that for a change.Cant remember the last time that happened when the other team sorta got screwed,and we won.

[vaff87]

Mildly embarrassing win.

Romano choked in the 9th

Catcher not allowed to catch and tag. woot.

Romano didn't choke. He was facing the hottest batter in the American League who also hits left.

It was an intenable situation.

Sent from my SM-G998W using RealGM mobile app

He hit Carlos Correa on an 0-2 pitch to lead off the inning.

He also gave up a hit to Gary frigging Sanchez.

[LBJKB24MJ23]

I think its a ridiculous rule,but its in place to protect the catcher from getting killed(best they can do)
This kind of play at the plate hasn,t happened in a long time,so who knows maybe the rule itself was totally forgotten here by Sanchez,but not Merrifield.
If Sanchez had moved slightly away from the plate ,Merrifield would have easily been out.
Imagine if Minny loses the division by one game to the Chisox.
Nice for us to win a game like that for a change.Cant remember the last time that happened when the other team sorta got screwed,and we won.

imho if Sanzhez cradled the plate (letting Merrifield slide under him) or played to either side of the plate, Merrifield would have been safe and the tag would have been late. it would have been a hard played for Sanchez regardless - to catch and then reach down or away to tag.

[linery88]

I think its a ridiculous rule,but its in place to protect the catcher from getting killed(best they can do)
This kind of play at the plate hasn,t happened in a long time,so who knows maybe the rule itself was totally forgotten here by Sanchez,but not Merrifield.
If Sanchez had moved slightly away from the plate ,Merrifield would have easily been out.
Imagine if Minny loses the division by one game to the Chisox.
Nice for us to win a game like that for a change.Cant remember the last time that happened when the other team sorta got screwed,and we won.

imho if Sanzhez cradled the plate (letting Merrifield slide under him) or played to either side of the plate, Merrifield would have been safe and the tag would have been late. it would have been a hard played for Sanchez regardless - to catch and then reach down or away to tag.

Yeah it would have been much closer if Sanchez was to the left or right of homeplate.Could have gone either way in that scenario.
I hope to see a bunch of these close plays at the plate just to see what MLB does about it;if anything,or their reactions to it.

Sidenote...If the season ended today,we would host TB in a 3 gamer.
Minn would host Seattle.
Our series winner would play NY,and Hou would play the other series winner.

[Kevin Willis]

I would like to jump on the Blue Jays bandwagon. Hopefully there is room.

[polo007]

Overturned call results in Baldelli's ejection, Twins' 3-2 loss to Blue Jays - StarTribune.com

Rocco Baldelli threw his cap, kicked dirt on home plate and screamed at a pair of umpires. But his fury was directed at someone 1,200 miles away.

The normally unflappable Twins manager unloaded his anger at home plate umpire Marty Foster and crew chief Alan Porter after Foster's judgment — that Gary Sanchez had tagged Whit Merrifield out at home plate, ending the 10th inning and keeping the game tied — was overruled in New York by replay umpire Jordan Baker.

His verdict: That Sanchez had violated the rule against blocking home plate, that he had not given Merrifield the required sliding path. Merrifield was ruled safe — scoring the eventual winning run in the Blue Jays' 3-2 victory — Baldelli was ejected, and the Twins grudgingly, bitterly settled for a split of the rowdy four-game series.

"That's beyond embarrassing for our game, for all the players out there," Baldelli fumed in a brief, profanity-laced postgame interview. "It's one of the worst moments I think we've seen of umpiring in any game I've ever been a part of in baseball. It was pathetic, what just played out."

Potentially critical, too. The Twins' two-game AL Central lead over Cleveland was sliced in half by the loss, with a road trip to Los Angeles, where the Dodgers own the best record in baseball, up next on Tuesday.

"It's a game that may have playoff implications at some point. And to have it taken away from us, it's tough," reliever Caleb Thielbar said. "It was pretty righteous, what [Baldelli] did. He was in the right, as far as I'm concerned."

Rocco Baldelli on play at plate

Blue Jays @ Twins

August 7, 2022 | 00:00:55

Rocco Baldelli takes the floor to defend his team and his stance on the replay that decided the outcome of the Twins vs. Blue Jays game.

[johanliebert]

Read on Twitter

I wonder why Dan Schumann thought he was out. He at first thought Whit slid his feet under Gary then keep stating he’s out. That’s a heads up play and I wish buck was in Dan’s place he’d have had better commentary there.

[Raps in 4]

Overturned call results in Baldelli's ejection, Twins' 3-2 loss to Blue Jays - StarTribune.com

Rocco Baldelli threw his cap, kicked dirt on home plate and screamed at a pair of umpires. But his fury was directed at someone 1,200 miles away.

The normally unflappable Twins manager unloaded his anger at home plate umpire Marty Foster and crew chief Alan Porter after Foster's judgment — that Gary Sanchez had tagged Whit Merrifield out at home plate, ending the 10th inning and keeping the game tied — was overruled in New York by replay umpire Jordan Baker.

His verdict: That Sanchez had violated the rule against blocking home plate, that he had not given Merrifield the required sliding path. Merrifield was ruled safe — scoring the eventual winning run in the Blue Jays' 3-2 victory — Baldelli was ejected, and the Twins grudgingly, bitterly settled for a split of the rowdy four-game series.

"That's beyond embarrassing for our game, for all the players out there," Baldelli fumed in a brief, profanity-laced postgame interview. "It's one of the worst moments I think we've seen of umpiring in any game I've ever been a part of in baseball. It was pathetic, what just played out."

Potentially critical, too. The Twins' two-game AL Central lead over Cleveland was sliced in half by the loss, with a road trip to Los Angeles, where the Dodgers own the best record in baseball, up next on Tuesday.

"It's a game that may have playoff implications at some point. And to have it taken away from us, it's tough," reliever Caleb Thielbar said. "It was pretty righteous, what [Baldelli] did. He was in the right, as far as I'm concerned."

Rocco Baldelli on play at plate

Blue Jays @ Twins

August 7, 2022 | 00:00:55

Rocco Baldelli takes the floor to defend his team and his stance on the replay that decided the outcome of the Twins vs. Blue Jays game.

So he admits the rule has been enforced a "couple of times" since instant replay was introduced but he argues that because it's rarely enforced, it shouldn't have applied here?

[Schad]

It's been enforced more than a couple times...it's been enforced more than a couple times against us alone.

When the ball is on the way, he's fully in the basepath:



And when the ball arrives, he's completely blocking the plate:



There are fringy applications of the rule, but this really isn't one. He's set up to block the plate, and he blocked the plate, and you can't block the plate.

[C Court]

I don’t like the rule, but it’s the rule. It was enforced against us in the last couple of years, I just can’t remember the exact game.

[anj]

People questioning the rule either have very short memories or didn't live through these:

Watch on YouTube

Home-plate collisions were madness.

[And1Skip]

In many cases, the rule never needs to be enforced because the player avoids running into the catcher blocking the lane and ends up being safe anyways. One example is when Chris Coghlan jumped over the catcher, flipped in the air and touched homeplate avoiding the tag attempt. Merryfield was smart in that the first thing that popped into his mind when he saw Sanchez was that rule.

[Mad Prophet]

I'll never forget the amazing Buck Martinez double play

Watch on YouTube

[Mehar]

It's been enforced more than a couple times...it's been enforced more than a couple times against us alone.

When the ball is on the way, he's fully in the basepath:



And when the ball arrives, he's completely blocking the plate:



There are fringy applications of the rule, but this really isn't one. He's set up to block the plate, and he blocked the plate, and you can't block the plate.

I do not understand the outrage from the Twins Manager and fans for the reasons you mentioned. Either you have Rules or you do not have them. Sanchez clearly blocks the plate when the ball arrives. It was the correct call made, and I would be saying the same thing if the roles were reversed for us.