Brooklyn never led in the fourth quarter but pulled even at 81-81 with just o

NEW YORK -- Rather than ban home plate collisions outright, Major League Baseball and its players adopted a rule limiting them this season. In what both sides said was a one-year experiment, the rule allows collisions if the catcher has the ball and is blocking the runners direct path to home plate, and if the catcher goes into the basepath to field a throw to the plate. "Its not a radical departure from what it had been," Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon said. The new rule, 7.13, states "a runner attempting to score may not deviate from his direct pathway to the plate in order to initiate contact with the catcher (or other player covering home plate)." A runner violating the rule shall be declared out, even if the fielder drops the ball. "Its good, I think it takes away the malicious intent behind the play at the plate," Texas Rangers catcher J.P. Arencibia said. "Obviously the runner doesnt always have to slide, and the catcher still has the ability to block the plate once he has the ball in hand." Along with the rule, the sides agreed to a pair of comments umpires use for interpretation. The first comment says "the failure by the runner to make an effort to touch the plate, the runners lowering of the shoulder, or the runners pushing through with his hands, elbows or arms, would support a determination that the runner deviated from the pathway in order to initiate contact with the catcher in violation." The comment says players who slide appropriately are not in violation of the rule. The second comment says that "unless the catcher is in possession of the ball, the catcher cannot block the pathway of the runner as he is attempting to score." The runner shall be declared safe if the catcher violates that provision. In addition, it is not a violation "if the catcher blocks the pathway of the runner in order to field a throw, and the umpire determines that the catcher could not have fielded the ball without blocking the pathway of the runner and that contact with the runner was unavoidable." "There are some things that often times can make the water a little muddy," union head Tony Clark said after meeting with the New York Yankees. "Over the course of the off-season, the concern was protecting players, but trying to draw up something that not only made sense on paper, but also was going to make sense to the players that were playing on the field." The umpire crew chief can use the new video-review system to determine whether the rule was violated. "It stops guys just going out of their way just to try to dislodge the baseball when they (catchers) have the plate," Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington said. Debate over plate collisions has intensified since May 2011, when San Franciscos Buster Posey was injured as the Marlins Scott Cousins crashed into him at the plate. Posey, an All-Star catcher, sustained a broken bone in his lower left leg and three torn ligaments in his ankle, an injury that ended his season. In Game 5 of last years AL championship series, Detroit backstop Alex Avila was pulled a couple of innings after being run over at the plate by Bostons David Ross, a fellow catcher. "I think its fair. A runners path is to home plate," Oakland catcher Derek Norris said. "Any deviation and hes not trying to score, hes trying to harm. A runner going out of the basepath trying to break up a double play is declared out. This is the same concept as a double-play slide." Cheap Nike Free Wholesale . Cammalleri suffered a concussion in the Flames 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. The 31-year-old forward did not travel with the team to Carolina. Discount Nike Free . Tokarski, a somewhat controversial choice -- with his 10 games of NHL experience and all -- to replace an injured Carey Price in Game Two had a night to remember, turning back a Rangers team that was dominating play from the get-go, outshooting the Canadiens 14-4 in the first period and 37-25 overall. http://www.cheapnikefree.net/ . JOHNS, N. Nike Free Wholesale China . Brooks replaces right-hander Yordano Ventura, who left his last outing with a sore elbow. Ventura is expected to miss one start. Brooks has made one relief appearance for the Royals this season, allowing six runs in two innings in a May 3 loss to Detroit. Cheap Nike Free Sale . Dallas (2-0-1) sits atop the Western Conference with an MLS-best seven points. Castillo opened the scoring in the 71st minute off a Mauro Diaz set piece, and Watson outran defender Tony Lochhead on a long ball and then juked goalkeeper Ian Kennedy for the eventual game-winner in the 78th minute.Brooklyn, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Nene scored 20 points and the Washington Wizards split their home-and-home set against the Brooklyn Nets with a 99-90 victory at Barclays Center on Saturday. Bradley Beal totaled 17 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, while Marcin Gortat finished with 10 points and 16 boards for the Wizards, who were handed a 22-point loss on their home floor Friday night. It was a good game ... just playing the right way, Beal said. We did a better job of executing on both ends of the floor. They rebounded by shooting 51.9 percent from the floor and getting at least nine points from seven players. Jarrett Jack paced the Nets with 22 points and eight assists, while Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez chipped in with 15 points apiece. I thought we played courageously and we battled, Nets coach Lionel Hollins said. Brooklyn never led in the fourth quarter but pulled even at 81-81 with just over eight minutes to play. Washington answered with an 8-2 run and stayed iin front the rest of the way despite its struggles at the foul line, where it went just 14-of-27.dddddddddddd Mason Plumlee was close to cutting Brooklyns deficit to one possession with 2 1/2 minutes remaining, but Nene disrupted his alley-oop try at the rim, albeit with a lot of contact. The whistle did not blow, and Nenes jumper at the other end yielded a 95-88 lead that all but sealed the outcome. The first half was played within a five-point spread either way, with the Nets holding a slim 26-23 lead after one quarter and a 51-50 advantage at halftime. The Wizards trailed by seven in the third before rattling off an 18-2 surge to go in front by a 74-65 margin. Rasual Butlers rainbow 3-pointer at the buzzer had Washington in front 77-70 heading to the fourth. Game Notes Brooklyn had lost seven in a row prior to Fridays win in DC ... The Wizards are 23-1 when holding opponents under 100 points ... Washington had 21 second- chance points to Brooklyns 10. ' ' '