The Art of Blocking the Plate

As any long-time Dodger fan can tell you, Mike Scioscia was an absolute rock behind the plate---he was simply awesome at plate-blocking.

Well, today's Dodger game had a pretty awesome plate-blocking incident in the top of the third inning. Juan Rivera of the Dodgers was trying to score from second on a single by Casey Blake, but Rivera missed the plate while coming down the line. The ball got past Cardinal catcher Gerald Laird, who decided (without possession of the ball) to block Rivera from the other direction as he went back to the plate from foul territory. This one is probably going to make some highlight reels.