re: That was a bad throw by the catcher and a ticky-tack call

IT's a stupid fricking rule.

What happens if its a drop 3rd strike? The catcher will likely now be behind the batter, and thus in foul territory. The first baseman usually catches the ball in foul territory on this play. So the batter can basically run almost in the grass since that's where the second white line is to get in the way of this throw from the catcher, and that would be ok to do, but if the catcher wants to throw the ball from fair territory, then the batter can't even be an inch inside of fair territory, even though the base is inside of fair territory? Just all around stupid.
The base path should simply be the dirt. Stay inside the dirt. very simple.