Baseball Out of Baseline on Tag Call

[gerntz]

Tonite, Yanks v. Bosox. Sox runner on 2nd. Medium slow ground ball to Jeter at short that he charges. Runner comes from 2nd toward 3rd and is originally to outfield side of line from 2nd to 3rd. After Jeter fields and still moving towards first, he reaches forward to try to tag runner who is now moving to pitcher side of 2nd - third line.

Runner to me appears to be clearly within 3' limit of 2nd-3rd line as the tag is attempted and missed, but after tag attempt - Jeter throws on to first for out there - his inward momentum carries him a step onto infield grass & clearly further than 3' inside of the base line.

So, a) is he safe because he wasn't 3' outside line as the tag was attempted, or b) is he out because he used more the 3' limit as follow through of avoiding the tag?

[lighthouse]

The only thing that bothered me about that play was they had to talk about it and then called him out. Usually that's called when it actually happens. However, the runner stepped on the infield grass when he dodged the tag, and that's why he was called out. IMHO, correct call, but they looked bad getting it right.

[gerntz]

Thanks. The point I was trying to make was that he wasn't on the grass when the attempted tag was made but went onto the grass after that point in time.