Last night was a perfect example of the neighborhood play on the ball Jeter fielded up the middle and fipped to Cano and relayed to first for no outs instead of a double play.  Now, the runner at first looked like he was safe so I won’t assume the double play, but this call raises something I’ve talked about for years. 

The Neighborhood play has been a part of the game forever.  It is sometimes incorrectly stated to be that the middle infielder does not touch the bag at all.  Not so.  There is actually an art to the neighborhood play and Cano practiced it perfectly last night.  The neighborhood play is that ball and foot on the bag do not occur simultaneously.  Last night, Cano stepped on the bag and an instant later had the ball in his glove before wheeling it over to first base. 

Now before some people yell about calling the play “honestly” and that the runner should be safe – remember this.  If you enjoy watching the contact between baserunner and middle infielder (like I do) when a runner is trying to break up a double play, I think it’s important to give the middle infielder the benefit of the neighborhood play.  The issue here is escapability.  Unless you want to see many all-star middle infielders who make lots of money ending up on the disabled list because of broken up double plays, I think the umpires should allow the fielder to escape and use their judgment in how much leeway they want to give a fielder in time elapsed between foot on the bag and possession of the ball.  Obviously you don’t want ridiculous lapses of time between the two and after watching baseball for a long time, managers know when to argue when a runner is called out and it was “too long.”  Girardi went out last night and probably commented on the neighborhood play, but there’s nothing he could do about it.

Cano had it entirely right last night.  Was the runner safe?  Absolutely, but Cano had all of the other elements right.  He hit the bag, caught the ball a second after leaving the bag.  I think that’s what Girardi was defending, “hey, you want my all star second baseman to get killed out here?”

I for one, still like to see contact around the bag between baserunners and fielders but I don’t want to see guys hurt – these professionals avoid that with the neighborhood play – escaping just in a nick of time