[flamingred89]

I think the biggest difference is the ball bounded in play, and would've stayed in play had it not hit the player. So they shouldn't penalize the hitting team because of a misplay by the fielder, regardless of intent. Renfroe took a bad route to the ball, got to close to the wall, and the ball hit him. If it doesn't hit him it bounces back into play and depending how far it goes Kiermaier could've even rounded the bases. So it's completely different than a standard ground rule double or fan interference(which has it's own set of replay rules to determine outcomes) because a fielder was directly involved and influenced the outcome. It's a dumb rule and there's still so much grey area about where to place the runners because it doesn't specify when the 2 bases should be awarded. I would expect the rule to be changed this offseason at the AGM's because it has now been put in the spotlight and hurt a team severely. Much like the famous Yankees fan interference against Baltimore in '96 changing how fan interference is interpreted.

It was a bit of hyperbole by me to suggest the Rays lost the game because of it but it would be ludicrous to suggest that the Rays losing out on a run in the top of the 13th inning in a tie game didn't have effect on the outcome of the game. If they score that run they don't pitch Patino, Zunino probably has a different approach for his AB, and the Red Sox have a completely different approach to their AB's. And who knows what the outcome would be. Maybe everything stays the same and Vazquez still walks it off with a 2 run shot. Doesn't change how horrible that call was.