Most are aware by now, last week San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey was on the wrong end of a crushing full speed collision. Giants’ fans collectively held their breath as he laid on the ground writhing in pain. The worst case scenario became a reality as a fractured fibula and severely strained ankle ligaments have effectively ended Buster’s 2011 season, clouding what looked like a very bright future for the young catcher.

This incident has sparked national dialogue over whether Major League Baseball should modify its rules in order to prevent this kind of injury to catchers. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes a catastrophe like this to shed light on a neglected issue and force a league to take action for the greater good.

The potential for a serious injury from a big hit to a stationary player should come as no surprise. I’m assuming that most have seen a football game before, and thus would know that quarterbacks (whether stationary or not) are put at serious risk of injury from a charging defensive linemen almost every play. Nearly every week during the NFL season countless QBs go down with injuries. The game of football necessitates this kind of contact as it is by definition a contact sport. Thus, to make the game a safer place by eliminating this level of contact (with injury potential) would fundamentally change the game itself.

Brady's injury in 2008 was a primary factor in the NFL's decision to implement better rules to protect future quarterbacks.

As one quarterback after another succumbed to injury, many pressured the NFL to take action. Yet, the league continued to essentially sit on its hands. The apparent final straw was the season-ending injury to Tom Brady during the 2008 NFL Season. The following year, the NFL implemented a series of policies designed to help protect the quarterback. The subsequent on-field penalties and increased fines for unnecessarily dangerous hits have thus become collectively known as “The Brady Rules”.

In a sense the NFL said, “you can still hit the man, but you will pay the price.” It’s impossible to discern the direct effect of these changes, but common-sense dictates that the problem has been lessened to some extent. At the least it has caused defensive players to think twice before they come full force at the quarterback with reckless abandon.

The analogy is by no means full proof, but at its core it addresses the problem baseball is facing in the aftermath of the Buster Posey injury. Either run the risk of future injuries to appease baseball purists, or construct a way to protect players without compromising the sport itself. A so called “Posey Rule”.

Obviously the easiest way to avoid injuries caused by big hits is to do away with the hitting itself. For football, this was never a realistic option. Do you think millions would tune in every week to watch two-hand touch? Probably not. Football is a contact sport. To do away with the “contact” would be changing the game of football as we know it. A solution needed to be crafted around the violence.

Unlike football, baseball does not pride itself on being a contact sport – therefore not encountering the same problems when attempting to make alterations to the rulebook. You can take the big hits away from baseball and you’ll essentially have the same on-field product. In a sense the game boils down to four distinct elements: pitching, fielding, batting, and base running. Is a high speed collision an indispensable part of any of these? No it’s not. Plain and simple.

I can see an argument for base running but that’s easily defeated. To score a run you need only touch home plate. Last time I checked there was no rule in baseball requiring that a runner MUST knock over the catcher. On the contrary, playing defense in football requires that you tackle the ball carrier, necessitating a collision of some capacity. Baseball’s primary form of violent play (save rushing the pitcher or plunking a batter) is on just exactly these types of home plate collisions.

The runner always has the option to avoid the catcher’s tag, whether by sliding or by some other evasive maneuver. However, when a catcher completely blocks home plate these means are rendered highly ineffective, whereby ramming him and dislodging the ball becomes the runner’s best chance at scoring. It is important to notice that these evasive means are only of little use to the extent the catcher blocks home plate. Thus, dislodging the ball via derailment is only a “necessary” option when the catcher utilizes his ability to block home plate. Regulate the ability to block home plate, and you can control the need to knock over the catcher.

Any subsequent rule changed in the aftermath of Posey’s injury, must target this problem in the game specifically. A policy that puts the legality of a collision within the catcher’s own control. If he intentionally leaves a clear path to a “sizable” portion of the plate, the runner should not be allowed the option of attempting to dislodge the ball. Should the runner do so, he should automatically be called out and possibly also assessed a fine. On the other hand, if the catcher doesn’t leave enough of the plate open, a big hit is fair game, and he should expect as much. Just as would be the case if someone intentionally stood in the middle of the highway… they take on the risk of serious physical injury.

This would be the entirety of my proposed “Posey Rule”. I don’t think anything else would be necessary.

APPLYING THE RULE #1: Here, the catcher clearly left the plate entirely open to the runner and therefore there would be no need to dislodge the ball with a big hit.

APPLYING THE RULE #2: If a catcher is literally sitting on home plate, leaving none of it open, the only way to score is to physically knock him off. By putting himself in this position, the catcher has assumed the risk of taking a big hit.

Applying this rule to the play that injured Buster Posey in the first place would be no easy task. In pictures it looks as if as if the runner clearly had an unimpeded path to a large portion of the plate (below). However, at full-speed it’s difficult to tell if this path became evident in time for the runner to notice.

Under the proposed plan, this would not be for a still frame picture or for instant replay to determine, rather this would be the task of the umpire to make in the heat of the moment. This kind of pure judgment call is already part of their job description. The potential level of difficulty in this determination should be irrelevant. After all, umps are human and they’re not going to get every call right every single time. If this human imperfection hasn’t already led to the downfall of baseball, it can’t be expected to cripple it moving forward.

The NFL "slide rule" allows QB's the option of avoiding the big hit altogether.

I think of this policy as being very similar to the “slide rule” the NFL implemented to protect quarterbacks. In football, when the quarterback has the ball he can decide whether he wants to feel the implications of a big hit, or instead avoid any contact by opposing players and slide to the ground. In one instance, the QB might want to refrain from sliding in order to gain an the extra yard or two, but other times, the situation might not be so dire whereas he would be willing to put his health at risk. In any event, he is in control of the risk to his body, not the opposition. The rule is such that if he properly slides to the ground, he is essentially “off-limits” to the defense and any hit he takes would be met with on-field penalty or possibly even an individually assessed fine.

Who knows, Posey might have positioned himself differently if such a rule were in place. In the NFL, teams frequently require their young quarterbacks to avoid the big hit at every opportunity. With the Rookie of the Year Award under his belt, Posey was already on his way to becoming a superstar in the league, and moreover he was perhaps the most important position player on the Giants. This being the case, it’s not a stretch to think that the the team would preach a similar, safer, approach with him around home-plate.

Buster's injury is only temporary, but hopefully it will have a permanent effect on the baseball landscape.

The resulting game would still be baseball as we’ve all come to love it, hardly anyone would notice this change. That is of course besides the players themselves, and the teams who’ve invested millions of dollars in their health.

Baseball officials cannot sit idly on their hands and preserve the status quo. They need to follow the NFL’s approach and find ways to protect their players, and by association the product that is put out on the field. Whether these particular means are adopted or not, some sort of action must be taken.

Buster Posey, is lost for the year. Without him the Giants as a team are much worse off. What’s done is done, and we must move on. For Giants’ fans it’s very difficult to put a positive spin on this injury. They should at least take solace in the fact that it has people talking about improving the game of baseball itself, which will hopefully create some sort of “Posey Rule” to benefit future generations of ballplayers.

Look who’s back on top. For the first time in the young 2011 baseball season, the rest of the NL West is looking up at the Giants.

And all is well and dandy in sunny San Francisco.

This was a home stand to remember. The Giants’ season took a complete 180. If you blinked you might have missed it.

Hard to believe that just a week ago, the Giants were four games behind the Colorado Rockies. Not only did they catch them, but they now have a one-game lead over them. What wonders a homestand can do for a team’s fortunes….Home Sweet Home.

A little exposure to AT&T Park and all of sudden the Giants’ are healthy,  no longer slumping, and are finally providing us with some seriously missed “torture”. This appears to have been just what the doctor ordered.

6 Games. 6 Wins. 2 Sweeps….including 5 one-run victories, 3 via the walk off.

These are uncharted waters for this Giants club. The last 6-game winning streak for the organization came in the transition year of 2007. This would be the last season Barry Bonds wore the orange and black, marking the end of a highly successful yet tainted* era in Giants history. The team has since moved on without him and, as will be discussed, to much brighter pastures. By 2007, Bonds’ ego had gotten the best of him, as his march toward the record books garnered national media attention. The nation used to tune into Giants games to watch him chase history. Barry came first and foremost. The Giants were secondary.

The Barry Bonds era officially began in 1993 when he signed with San Fran at the ripe age of 28, coming over from the Pirates after winning 2 MVP awards in the previous 3 seasons. 586 long balls later and Barry was Baseball’s Home Run King, holding the single-season record (73*) and the career record (762*). Say what you want about Barry in retrospect, but there was a point when he captivated the entire nation with his every swing. He was the undisputed best player in all of baseball. Their version of Michael Jordan.

Bonds was to baseball what Jordan was to basketball

Within the Barry Bonds Era you’ve got two distinct sub-eras, Pre-73* and the Post-73*. Or perhaps more appropriately described as the Pre-King and Post-King eras. Bonds began his reign as the King of the clubhouse during the 2002 off-season, when he was able to basically force the Giants’ #2 Superstar, Jeff Kent, out of town.

Kent v. Bonds

Bonds didn’t say it publicly but he had to have been livid when he finished second to Kent in the 2000 NL MVP Award Voting. First, because he lost the race with arguably better numbers (posted below) and second, because of how large of a discrepancy there was in the actual tallying of the votes. Kent garnered 22 first place votes next to Bonds’ 6, and in total Kent had 392 vote points against Bonds’ 279.

2000 MLB Season:

BONDS: 129 Runs, 49 HRs, 106 RBI, .306/.440/.688

KENT: 114 Runs, 33 HRs, 125 RBI, .334/.424/.596

It must be said that Kent’s RBI totals are skewed by the fact that he hit cleanup behind Bonds in the order. Nevertheless, although the numbers aren’t conclusive either way, the nation perceived Jeff Kent to be the best player in the NL and accordingly the best on the Giants. Prior to this, Barry had always been considered the team’s best player, but at this point it seemed as if the power in the clubhouse was shifting, and he couldn’t stand it. Put yourself in his shoes. What would you do in this situation? …. WHATEVER you could to not let Kent show you up again.

Road to 756

…. the very next year Bonds hit 73*, and earned what would be his first of four consecutive NL MVP Awards. Kent would play just one more year in SF before he was unceremoniously shown the door. Bonds was the man in SF once again. And would hold this title for the remainder of his tenure with the Giants.

Behind all of the pomp and circumstance surrounding Barry’s individual success, the Giants struggled for several years. Yet, no one seemed to care. This was most evident in Bonds’ last three years from 2005 through 2007. The Giants failed to make playoffs once and went a combined 222-264 (.456). Otherwise meaningless Giant baseball games were given a national television audience. We all remember ESPN providing live game look-ins to show Barry’s at bats. Of course, chasing baseball’s holiest of records, all of this attention was completely warranted.

Metaphorically, Barry’s individual success served as poison for the team’s success as a whole. They didn’t have the money to bring in superstar talent with his monster contract on the books and tried to compensate for this with patchwork by continuously bringing in veterans to plug holes. This wasn’t working. But, at the same time, it didn’t make any sense to get rid of him. He was, after all, still the team’s best player. It also didn’t make sense from a financial standpoint. His chase for the record books brought the team substantial revenue, and although attendance declined, it still was among the best in the National League, finishing 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively from 2005-2007.

The King of the Clubhouse

The Giants as a team were just plainly not worthy of national media attention during this period. Reporters weren’t huddled around guys like Randy Winn, Pedro Feliz, or Ray Durham. A single player, Bonds, was the sole media focus. The reporters would make a v-line directly towards him and salivate on his every word. It was obvious for all to see, Barry was the king of the clubhouse.

I see a problem. Think practically, how would you feel if you were one of the other guys in the locker room? There’s no way they could enjoy this. Wily veterans and young prospects alike, neither could honestly say that they didn’t resent him in some capacity. Everyone else was seemingly a mere peon in King Barry’s Castle. In this light, was it even realistic to think that this team could succeed in such a toxic atmosphere?

2010 World Series Champs

Fast forward.

The Giants win the championship. The team had undergone a complete overhaul since the final years of the Bonds era. In fact, not a single position player from the 2007 team remained.

Undoubtedly, the 2010 squad had its fair share of strong personalities, but no one person would be mistaken for a King. In the absence of an overbearing presence, the essence of the team became more apparent.

I can’t imagine Bonds in this clubhouse. The image doesn’t sit right in my head. 2010 was a fun-loving, thong-wearing bunch. They were a team in every sense of the word. The stories in the papers were about the “misfits” (plural) and the feeling of “torture” the team as a whole gave Giant fans. The Barry Bonds era was just that. His era, his team.

In contrast, this team has no supreme leader. No one player calls the shots. Rather, the success of the franchise is weighted across the shoulders of all Giants equally.

Without Barry, Giants Baseball is once again just that, Giants Baseball.

Case in point, the story today is the Giants’ rise to first place in the NL West after back-to-back sweeps of divisional foes. Yes, there have been some great individual performances, but none have consumed what it is most important …. that the Giants are back to their winning ways, and are back on top.

Three Games. Three Victories. How Sweep it is.

Finally looking like themselves again, the Giants disposed of Rockies in dramatic fashion. They didn’t look like the far superior team, but that’s nothing new for this group. All of last year, even during the playoffs, they rarely blew out their opponent.

They simply find a way to get the job done. Same Formula. Great pitching coupled with timely hitting.

Let’s start with game one.

Mr. Dependable

As per usual, a solid performance from Matt Cain (7 IP, 3 ER, 4K). That’s his sixth quality start in his last seven outings. Cain never seems to “wow” you with his stuff, and rarely puts up a Lincecum-like box score line. He’s more like Mr. Dependable. Every time he steps on the mound, he’s going to pitch well enough to give the Giants bats a chance to win it with a clutch hit. Surprise, surprise. That’s exactly what happened on Friday. Bottom of the 8th….Down 3-1…..Nate Schierholtz provided the big hit, a 2-run double to knot the game at 3. Then it was Freddy Sanchez in 9th, knocking in Cody Ross with the walk-off hit.

Clutch hitting is the name of the game. Not power. Not speed. No one performance in particular stood out, but, collectively, they find a way to get it done.

GAME ONE: GIANTS WIN: 4-3  (3 GB)

Game two had a very similar tone.

Last 3 Starts: 19 IP, 0.95 ERA

Madison Bumgarner (0-5) has been pitching very well of late, but has nothing to show for it. A 7th inning 2-Run single from Todd Helton tied the game up at 2-2 and took the W away from Bumgarner. The game remained tied entering the 9th. There seemed to be this confidence swirling around the dugout.

Watching their body language, it looked as if the Giants knew they’d pull this one out. It wasn’t a matter of if they would …but rather, when they would and who would be the hero. This time it was Aaron Rowand getting to 3rd base, and Mike Fontenot bringing him home with a towering fly ball.

GAME TWO: GIANTS WIN: 3-2 (2 GB)

Confidence brewing in the SF clubhouse spells bad news for the rest of the NL West. When you get a cocky ball club you end up with some unlikely heroes. That was the story of Game 3.

Raise your hand if you thought Ryan Vogelsong would have a perfect game going through 5 innings. (Yeah right). Vogelsong looked like a complete pitcher on the mound. His second impressive outing in his third time out. We haven’t heard much from the former home-grown top prospect after he was sent packing years ago in exchange for Jason Schmidt. Back in the Orange and Black, Vogelsong has quickly made fans forget about the player he replaced in the rotation.

Wondering who I’m talking about? Barry Zito. Yeah I had to think for a second too. Who just happens to be the team’s highest paid player. Don’t laugh. That’s a depressing fact.

Jorge De La Rosa was dealing for the Rockies, keeping the game close despite Vogelsong’s near flawless performance. Cody Ross had his number though. His RBI single in the 4th and his 6th inning 2-out 2-Run HR (9-pitch AB) was all the Giants got on offense, and all they ended up needing.

Got to hand it to Vogelsong, really stepped up big to complete the sweep. I think he’s earned himself a nickname. Suggestions anyone?

GAME THREE: GIANTS WIN: 3-0 (1 GB)

LOOKING FORWARD…

The Rockies came to town with a four game cushion in the division. They left without a win, and on their heels.  The Giants are clicking on all cylinders right now. They made up 3 games in the NL West in 3 days. Like a true championship team, they had a GIANT opportunity and did not disappoint. Now, only one game stands between them and the Rockies.

Tonight, the Arizona Diamondbacks come to San Francisco to kick off a three game series. If the Giants keep playing at this level, the D-Backs don’t stand a chance. That being said, my money is on the Giants to take over the division lead by week’s end.

The Giants were the story of the year in 2010. Behind a dominant pitching staff and some clutch hitting, San Francisco wowed the baseball world en route to their first World Series Title since 1954 (as the New York Giants). The commissioner’s reward? A grueling first month schedule with 22 of 31 games on the road, having the fewest home games of any team in baseball over that span.

After spending 16 of their last 19 games on the road, the Giants finally return home.  Despite hitting a lowly putrid .236/.296/.362 on the season and scoring the second fewest runs of any NL team they stand at a respectable 15-16 - just 4 games back of the division-leading Colorado Rockies. As in 2010, the pitching staff has kept the team afloat. Behind the arms of Tim Lincecum (2.47 ERA) and Matt Cain (3.28 ERA) the team currently has the 4th lowest ERA in the NL (3.47).

Through 31 games in their championship season, the Giants stood at 18-13, with a 3.07 team ERA and hitting .272/.341/.418. Keep in mind that 16 of those games were in the friendly confines of AT&T Park. Moreover, the Giants didn’t really turn it on until the second half of the season going 45-29 (.608) – a far cry better than 47-41 (.534) in the first half.

Naysayers who are quick to denounce the Giants’ championship as merely a fluke are irrational if not premature – especially with a quick glance at the standings. It’s way too early in the season to make such sweeping conclusions. Back at home after 10 straight road games, the Giants are poised to make a big move in the NL West. Over their 6-game home stand, they’ll face off against the Rockies and the Diamondbacks, teams who they’ve already taken 2 two out of 3 from on the road.

Speaking of those Rockies, they sported an MLB best 12-3 record before playing the Giants. Since then they have gone just 6-8 with a slender 4-game lead over the Giants in NL West. AT&T Park has not been kind to the Rockies who have a 6-12 record over the past two seasons. Factor in that: 1) Carlos Gonzalez has been struggling, 2) Troy Tulowitzki has gone ice-cold, and 3) Ubaldo Jimenez, their game 1 pitcher tonight, has looked like a complete shell of himself.

The moment is just right for the Giants to pounce. The Rockies were never as good as their record made them out to be, they simply took advantage of a cupcake early schedule.

Don’t let the 4-5 home record fool you. The Giants have been solid, winning two out of their three home series thus far (the only loss coming against the Braves). Take those 9 games with a grain of salt due to the small sample size.

However, what can’t be taken lightly is the Giants’ dominance at home last year where they went 49-32 (.605). If past performance is any indication of future success, the Giants will step up their game being back on their home field. Given that they nearly swept the Mets, behind a spectacular pitching performance by Lincecum and what looks like the resurgence of Aubrey Huff,  it’s easy to see why I’m expecting big things from the team over the next week.

Matt Cain will get the ball in Game 1. This will be just his second home start of the season. For his career, his ERA at home (3.18) is nearly 60 points lower than on the road (3.74). Based on this trend, it looks like the best is yet to come from Cain on the season. Cain has been pitching very well of late, posting a quality start in 5 out of his last 6 outings. He’s been great against the Rockies for his career (3.11 ERA), so it should be time to gain some ground in the division.

That being said…

GO GIANTS!