Final word on the "neighborhood play."

It amazes me how someone as intelligent and insightful about baseball as Tim McCarver is can completely whiff on an explanation the way he did Saturday night when Melky Cabrera was called safe at second as the umpire declined to invoke the "neighborhood" play.

McCarver and Joe Buck were incredulous that Cabrera could be called safe on the front end of what would have been a double play as Erick Aybar failed to touch second. Their logic was that Aybar was in the "neighborhood" of second base, and that umpires give the out to the defensive team on such plays, even if it appears the second baseman or shortstop might not have touched the base.

The problem with this argument is that the neighborhood play is invoked usually as the player is gliding across the bag, and it's not just for the protection of the fielder. It's because it's almost impossible for an umpire to determine if a foot gliding across a bag touches that bag or not.

Erick Aybar was not gliding across the bag. He was straddling the bag in a way that almost seemed intended to demonstrate to the umpire: "I refuse to touch this silly bag." Aybar obviously was not trying to avoid the bag, but he gave the umpire no choice.