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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Pete Rose sounded bowled over. Charlie Hustle, who famously flattened Ray Fosse to score the winning run in the 1970 All-Star game, couldnt believe Major League Baseball intends to eliminate home-plate collisions by 2015 at the latest. "What are they going to do next, you cant break up a double play?" Rose said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press after MLB announced its plan Wednesday. "Youre not allowed to pitch inside. The hitters wear more armour than the Humvees in Afghanistan. Now youre not allowed to try to be safe at home plate?" Rose said. "Whats the game coming to? Evidently the guys making all these rules never played the game of baseball." New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson, chairman of the rules committee, made the announcement at the winter meetings, saying the change would go into effect for next season if the players association approved. Safety and concern over concussions were major factors -- fans still cringe at the thought of the season-ending hit Buster Posey absorbed in 2011. "Ultimately what we want to do is change the culture of acceptance that these plays are ordinary and routine and an accepted part of the game," Alderson said. "The costs associated in terms of health and injury just no longer warrant the status quo." In a sport long bound by tradition, a ban will be a major step. MLB also is instituting a vast increase in the use of instant replay by umpires next season in an effort to eliminate blown calls. The NFL reached a settlement last summer in a concussion-related lawsuit by former players for $765 million, and a group of hockey players sued the NHL last month over brain trauma. Banned for life in 1989 following a gambling investigation, Rose insists Fosse was blocking the plate without the ball, which is against the rules. Fosse injured a shoulder, and his career went into a downslide. "Since 1869, baseball has been doing pretty well," Rose said. "The only rules they ever changed was the mound (height) and the DH. I thought baseball was doing pretty good. Maybe Im wrong about the attendance figures and the number of people going to ballgames." Alderson said wording of the rules change will be presented to owners for approval at their Jan. 16 meeting in Paradise Valley, Ariz. Details must be sorted out, such as what should happen if a catcher blocks the plate without the ball? "The exact language and how exactly the rule will be enforced is subject to final determination," he said. "Were going to do fairly extensive review of the types of plays that occur at home plate to determine which were going to find acceptable and which are going to be prohibited." Approval of the players union is needed for the rules change to be effective for 2014. "If the players association were to disapprove, then the implementation of the rule would be suspended for one year, but could be implemented unilaterally after that time," Alderson said. The union declined comment, pending a review of the proposed change. Some players spoke up on Twitter. "No more home plate collisions?! What is this? NFL quarterbacks are catchers now?" Oakland outfielder Josh Reddick wrote. "Nothing better than getting run over and showing the umpire the ball. Please dont ban home plate collisions," Pittsburgh rookie catcher Tony Sanchez posted. "Totally disagree," added retired catcher John Flaherty, now an analyst with the Yankees YES Network. Discussion to limit or ban collisions has intensified since May 2011, when Posey was injured as the Marlins Scott Cousins crashed the plate. Posey, San Franciscos 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. Posey returned to win the NL batting title and MVP award in 2012, when he led the Giants to their second World Series title in three seasons. In Game 5 of this years AL championship series, Detroit catcher Alex Avila was pulled a couple innings after being run over at the plate by Bostons David Ross, a fellow catcher sidelined for much of the season by concussions resulting from foul tips. "This is, I think, in response to a few issues that have arisen," Alderson said. "One is just the general occurrence of injuries from these incidents at home plate that affect players, both runners and catchers. And also kind of the general concern about concussions that exists not only in baseball but throughout professional sports and amateur sports today. Its an emerging issue, and one that we in baseball have to address, as well as other sports." Former catchers Joe Girardi, Bruce Bochy and Mike Matheny -- all now managing in the majors -- attended Wednesdays meeting. "I dont think its completely sparked by anything thats happened in baseball as much as whats happening outside of baseball and how its impacting people and impacting the welfare of each sport," said Matheny, now managing the St. Louis Cardinals. But not everyone is in favour of a change. "I lost time as a catcher being run over a couple different times, but I thought it was part of my job and I enjoyed the contact," said Girardi, the New York Yankees manager. "Now Im not so sure that everyone enjoys contact. But I love football, so I liked it." MLB intends to have varied tiers of punishment. "I think there will be two levels of enforcement," Alderson said. "One will be with respect to whether the runner is declared safe or out based on conduct. So, for example, intentionally running over the catcher might result in an out call. So I think that the enforcement will be on the field as well as subsequent consequences in the form of fines and suspensions and the like." Drafting the rule figures to be complicated. "Does it include at every base or just home plate?" Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. "Whats considered blocking the plate and how do you define all of it?" The NCAA instituted a rule on collisions for the 2011 season, saying "contact above the waist that was initiated by the base runner shall not be judged as an attempt to reach the base or plate." The umpire can call the runner out and also eject the player if contact is determined to be malicious or flagrant. The rule is likely to have an effect on youth leagues, too, where player safety is a primary concern. Little League runners must either slide or try to get around fielders. Plate collisions often are prohibited in high-school ball. "The actual detail, frankly the kinds of plays that were trying to eliminate, we havent finely determined," Alderson said. "I would expect to put together 100 of these plays and identify which ones we want to continue to allow and others that we want to prohibit, and draft a rule accordingly." Larry Murphy Jersey . -- For one night, Nick Calathes provided a big reason to believe the Memphis Grizzlies might be able to withstand the loss of Mike Conley on a short-term basis. Pittsburgh Penguins Jerseys . Lawries batting helmet hit an umpire during his ninth-inning outburst in the Jays 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday. The 22-year-old threw his helmet to the ground and it bounced up and hit home plate umpire Bill Miller on the right hip after Lawrie was called out on strikes for the second out. http://www.penguinsauthenticofficial.com...uentzel-jersey/. Goldeyes third baseman Ryan Pineda drove in three runs and the pitching staff didnt allow an earned run, as Winnipeg downed Kansas City 6-3 in American Association exhibition action at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas. Ron Francis Jersey .C. - The housecleaning continues for the B. Tom Barrasso Jersey . The Thornhill, Ont., native, who is ranked 11th in the world, said hed hoped he would be ready when Canada begins its World Group first-round tie against Japan in Tokyo on Friday.SALT LAKE CITY -- After spraining his ankle, Chris Paul might have lost some quickness. He compensated with determination. Paul shook off the injury and the teams early sluggishness to score 18 points and extend the Los Angeles Clippers winning streak to 10 with a 96-87 victory over the Utah Jazz on Friday night. "I knew I had just had to find a way," Paul said. "We already said at halftime, its not going to be pretty every night, but stay the course and find a way to win." Before Paul got hurt, it certainly wasnt pretty and the Clippers struggled. Blake Griffin had 20 points, even though he never got into a comfortable flow. "Its never an easy game coming into a place like this," he said. "You cant relax and walk into a building and think youll just win because of who you are or what you done, or a streak youre on." Los Angeles had its lowest points total during the streak, but the Clippers won this time with defence, forcing 20 turnovers by the Jazz that led to 31 points. "Thats what we kept saying in the huddle, Lets play our defence!" Paul said. "Early in the game, it was like they were just in a rocking chair. They were swinging it and getting everything they wanted." The Jazz led 70-60 in the third quarter, but the Clippers capitalized on a rash of Utah miscues and poor shot selection to go on a 20-2 run. "We locked in. The intensity and the effort was finally there," Griffin said. In the midst of the surge, Paul landed awkwardly after scoring and sprained his left ankle. "It was the freakiest thing ever. I layed it up and no one was around me but when I landed, my left foot was on the stanchion," said Paul, who returned after quickly getting the ankle taped between the third and fourth quarters. The point guard limped up and down the court, but still quarterbacked the Clippers come-from-behind-third quarter burst. He had seven points and three assists in the six-minute run that ended with Will Greens 3-pointer with 10:37 to play that made it 80-72. Griffins inside basket extended the lead to 85-74 before the Jazz made one final surge. Hayward made a 3-pointer that closed the gap to 90-85 with 3:25 remaining, but the Jazz couldnt score again until 24 seconds remained and the game was decided. Trey Burke had 18 points -- his thirrd straight with at least that many -- and Derrick Favours also scored 18, but the Jazz made only seven of 19 fourth-period shots and have dropped eight of nine contests.dddddddddddd The Clippers scored an average of 115 points a game in their previous nine, but were sluggish early against Utah. The Jazz led by as many as 13 in the first half as they played with more energy than theyve shown in the past several games. One thrilling sequence exemplified Utahs determination near the end of the half. Jeremy Evans and Gordon Hayward blocked back-to-back fast-break layups by the Clippers and brought the crowd to its feet. "Our biggest area of growth will be maintaining that type of intensity throughout the game and playing that way for 48 minutes," Burke said. The Clippers missed the shooting and playmaking of Jamal Crawford (calf), but turned to their stars, Paul and Griffin, to bring them back and claim their ninth straight against the Jazz. "Chris started being more aggressive," Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers said. "I think sometimes he wants to be the point guard, but tonight we needed his scoring." Griffin ranks fourth in the league with more than 28 points per game since Feb. 3 and has now scored at least 20 points in 25 consecutive games, the second-longest current streak in the NBA. But it was defence that turned the tide. "It was definitely a defensive thing," Griffin said. Matt Barnes contributed 15 points and Darren Collison had 14 as the Clippers set a season-high for fast-break points with 31. "Were tough to guard in transition. Blake makes some great decisions," Paul said. Starting in place of injured Marvin Williams (back), Enes Kanter had 11 points and 15 rebounds, but shot just 5 for 17 for the Jazz. "In the second half, they were just aggressive and we couldnt match them," Kanter said. NOTES: In honour of the upcoming St. Patricks Day holiday, the Jazz wore their road green uniforms. The Clippers played in their regular red away attire. ... Collisons layup at the first-half buzzer was disallowed after video review. ... The Jazz fell to 0-12 when Williams is out with injury, while the Clippers are 6-0 without Crawford. ... Paul had seven assists to move into 30th place all-time, passing Mookie Blaylock. ' ' '