Last month's man-on-man collision that took Buster Posey out of the season might have been the Rookie of the Year's own fault. At least this is what noted baseball player and gamblin' man Pete Rose claims. Rose talked to the LA Times about how the Posey and Cousins' tackle compared to his infamous collision with Ray Fosse during the 1970 All-Star game, saying:

"Buster Posey got hurt because his leg was underneath his other one. If he had gotten hurt from the collision, he would have been knocked out. Buster had a big disadvantage, just like Ray Fosse had a big disadvantage against me in the 1970 All-Star game. The disadvantage is this: When the catcher does not have the ball, he is at the mercy of the runner. If the catcher has the ball, the runner is at the mercy of the catcher, because if [the catcher] is going to plant himself and get ready for the collision with the ball in his hand, you're in trouble as a runner. Buster didn't have the ball. Ray Fosse was reaching out for the ball. If Buster had the ball waiting for the guy, nothing would have happened except [Cousins] would have been out."

When asked of the rules should be changed to prevent similar incidents, Rose says, nope.

"I'm not going to change any rule, because Cousins is a good, hard-nosed baseball player. ... Buster is a great, young player, and you hate to see anybody get hurt, but the guy slid within the rules of the game, and you can't take that away from him.

"Your obligation as a baserunner is to try and be safe within the rules. OK? A lot of these catchers don't understand that they are blocking the plate and they don't have the ball. You're not allowed to block the plate without the ball."

[via SFGate]