Buster Posey incident

Here is video of Buster Posey, the catcher of the San Francisco Giants, being run over by Florida Marlins player Scott Cousins.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5x9HeThjhA

Often times in baseball catchers are run over at home plate when a run is trying to score. This is not out of the ordinary, it is a part of the game. There was no malicious intent on the part of Cousins, he was simply trying to score.

Both Cousins and Posey should be applauded for going all out for their respective teams. Neither gave up on the play and didn't hustle. Marlins should respect Cousins for sacrificing his body to score a run and Giants fans should do the same for Buster Posey for blocking the plate.

If Cousins didn't slide or run into the catcher he would be criticized for not hustling and the same goes for Posey if he didn't block the plate.

The Giants seem bent on payback for the play, which is somewhat understandable and also part of the game, but the degree to which they are saying they are going for payback concerns me. It is as if they think that Chris Cousins intent was to break Posey's leg and not to score a run.

There is a huge difference between taking someone's legs or knees out intentionally than trying to score a run. If the Giants watched the video closely they would see that after the hit Scott Cousins seemed genuinely concerned about Posey. Cousins didn't just walk away, stand over Posey etc. instead he seemed to show a great amount of concern for the player he ran over.

Sports are violent and injuries will occur, but very rarely do these injuries occur from someone intentionally trying to inflict harm on another. Believe it or not, most athletes are trying to win and sometimes in the process of doing that they unintentionally hurt others.

I am on Chris Cousin's side of this issue and would lose a lot of respect for the Giants should they intentionally try to badly hurt Cousins (throw at his head)