Saturday, June 04, 2011

On Buster's injury

Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench goes as far as placing the blame on Buster Posey for getting injured. It was a clean and legal play and yes, I do feel sorry for Posey getting a season-ending injury.
"First of all, my catchers don't sit in front of home plate. They stand away from home plate and work back to the plate," Bench told the Tulsa newspaper. "But we (catchers) are just fair game. You've got a guy running around third base at 210 to 220 pounds with 3 percent body fat and with sprinter's speed."[...]

"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," said Bench, who has undergone hip replacements on both legs in the past seven years after a 17-year career that ended in 1983. "But Buster is laying in front of home plate, and it's like having a disabled car in the middle of a four-lane highway. You're just going to get smacked."

Posey has said he felt Cousins could have slid around him but also said it was a legal play.

"Show them the plate," Bench said. "You can always catch the ball and step, or step and catch the ball, as long as you've got the runner on the ground. And if you have the runner on the ground, there's less chance of any severe collision."
Posey meanwhile has commented on the death threats being recieved by Scott Cousins.
"I appreciate the continued support of Giants fans and others as I begin the process of working my way back," Posey said in the release. "But in no way do I condone threats of any kind against Scott Cousins or his family.

"As I said last week, I'm not out to vilify Scott," the statement reads. "I appreciate that he made the effort to reach out to me on the night of the play, but I was in no physical condition to talk to anyone. I have not been back with the team since that night, so I haven't even been aware of any other messages he's left for me. We all need to move on, so it isn't necessary to have a conversation with him at this point."
It is nice that he released a statement but I think it would be nice that he actually had a conversation.

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