Catcher sits on home plate

Question
In yesterday's Red Sox/Indians game, a throw to the catcher made him lose his balance and he fell entirely across the plate, covering it with his body entirely. Coco Crisp tried to step on the base, but couldn't, and was tagged and called out. It seems to me that entirely covering the plate is fielder interference and the run should count, no out.

Answer
The denfensive team impeding the runners oppurtunity to advance on the bases is termed obstruction.  The offenses impedence of a defender trying to make a play is termed interference.  While, that's not really the focus of this question, it's good information to have as interference causes an immediate dead ball and obstruction allows the play to continue.  Broadcasters screw this us all the time calling obstruction interference, so the next time you and your buddies are watching a game, you can give an example of Tim McCarver being a moron, which I'm sure they already know.  As to the question, if there was a call here, it would have been obstruction and the runner would have been awarded home.  However, for a play to be obstruction, a fielder must somehow (intentionally or unintentionally, it doesn't matter)impede the runner's route on the bases.  However, if the fielder has the ball, he is then considered to be making a play on the runner and there is no obstruction.  So in short, as long as he's holding the ball, he can block the plate however he likes and the runner's still going to be out.