"Neighborhood Play" reviews irk Strasburg, Nats

For more than a century, the "Neighborhood Play" existed in baseball as sort of an accepted form of breaking the official rules of the game.

By the letter of the law, an infielder turning a double play must have his foot on the bag with the ball in his possession before making the throw to first. But throughout the vast majority of the history of this sport, umpires looked the other way when a guy cleared his feet away from the base a microsecond before making his throw, in the process helping prevent the possibility of sustaining an injury via a takeout slide.

But then came the 2016 ban of the takeout slide and the expansion of instant replay in the major leagues, and all of a sudden the well-practiced move infielders had trained themselves to make their entire lives were no longer legal. Teams were now allowed to challenge such a call if they believed the fielder's foot came off the bag before he made his throw to first.

And that very scenario reared its ugly head in the top of the first Wednesday night at Nationals Park. Twice. On consecutive batted balls. Leaving everyone in the stadium frustrated, most notably the home team's starting pitcher.

It began with one out and a man on first, when Starling Marte grounded to second. Howie Kendrick tossed the ball to Trea Turner, who caught the ball before Gregory Polanco slid in but whose relay throw to first was too late to get Marte.

Nobody batted an eyelash ... until Pirates manager Clint Hurdle signaled to plate umpire Eric Cooper that he wanted to challenge the call at second, believing Turner's foot came off the bag before he made the throw. As everyone sat around watching Cooper and second base umpire Bruce Dreckman listen in on headsets with replay headquarters in New York, fans and players alike grew restless. And many really got upset when Cooper took his headset off and signaled that Polanco was now safe on a reversal of the original call, leaving the bases loaded.

Stephen Strasburg nearly got himself out of the jam moments later when he got Josh Bell to ground to short, but Turner and Kendrick couldn't quite make the turn in time after recording the easy force out at second base, so one run scored.

Except then Hurdle signaled to Cooper again, and challenged the call at second base again.

As the second replay review in minutes dragged on, the crowd let the umpires have it. And then, even after Cooper signaled the original call had been upheld, Strasburg couldn't help but vent his annoyance toward the plate umpire. The animated conversation continued after the inning ended, with manager Davey Martinez also getting involved.

"I let my frustration with the situation kind of take it out on (Cooper)," Strasburg said. "And I apologized to him. He had nothing to do with it. I just thought it was pretty ridiculous altogether. Is that what baseball has come to?"

In the modern era of high-definition, super-slo-mo replays, yes.

The incidents wound up having no bearing on the outcome of the game - the Nationals beat the Pirates 9-3 - but Strasburg was speaking for plenty others in the park with his on-field venting.

"Strasburg got a little frustrated with all the replays and the timing of it," Martinez said. "But you know what? A rule's a rule. There's nothing we can do about that. One guy was off, another guy wasn't. They challenged. So be it."

To his credit, Strasburg brushed aside the long and frustrating top of the first and proceeded to pitch well the rest of the night, completing seven innings on 104 pitches and leading his team to victory.

"It's tough, but you have to," he said. "It's just how the game is now. You have to keep your guard up regardless and just try to assume that call's not going to go your way."