MLB Playoffs

Professional Engineer & PE Exam Forum

Help Support Professional Engineer & PE Exam Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Apparently the infield fly rule just says that if it is reasonably fieldable by an infielder with normal effort, then it qualifies. They either need to change the name of the rule or the definition because it's dumb the way it is.

Also, that was the longest "infield" fly of the last 3 years...

To put Friday's controversial play into context, in the past three seasons, there were six infield flies that were not caught, according to Baseball Info Solutions, the longest of which was measured at 178 feet.

Friday's infield fly was measured at at 225 feet from home plate, according to Baseball Info Solutions.
Click to expand...
http://scores.espn.g...ameId=321005115

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Per cnnsi.com, and I generally agree with this.

Here's what happened: The Braves were trailing 6-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning with one out and men on first and second when Andrelton Simmons hit a pop-up into shallow leftfield. Cardinals shortstop Peter Kozma raced back to make the catch and appeared to have the ball measured when he suddenly ducked out of the way as if he had been called off by leftfielder Matt Holliday. However, Holliday had not done so, and the ball dropped untouched for an apparent single that loaded the bases. Except that at the last second before Kozma ducked away, leftfield umpire Sam Holbrook signaled for the infield fly rule, which meant Simmons was automatically out, taking the tying run off base and erasing one of the Braves' five remaining outs.

Holbrook erred in invoking the infield fly in that situation for two reasons. The first was that Kozma, though he did ultimately appear to be in position to catch the ball, had to race well into shallow leftfield to make the play. The infield fly rule specifically states that it is to be used on a fair fly ball "which can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort." Kozma's was not an ordinary effort (which was the argument Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez made in his protest, which was quickly overturned by the MLB officials on hand). Second, the rule states that "when it seems apparent that a batted ball will be an Infield Fly, the umpire shall immediately declare Infield Fly for the benefit of the runners." In this case, Holbrook didn't signal for the infield fly rule until the ball was more than half-way through its descent, mere moments before Kozma flinched and the ball hit the outfield grass.

Click to expand...
 
That was a crap call but that's not what lost the game for the Braves. Their costly errors and poor hitting with runners on base is what did them in eventually. They had 12 hits and only three runs. They had three errors that led to five cardinal runs. It's a bad break and a bad way to end Larry's Chipper's career. Even then the Braves had ample opportunity to come back but just couldn't get the runs across the plate. The Cardinals may have one the game but they are going to have to play much much better to make it far in the playoffs. They did enough to win this one though.

 
^ Yeah it wasn't like a field goal that may or may not have gone directly over the goal post to win the game or anything. This call was not the deciding play of the game despite the fact that the call sucked and was IMHO blatantly wrong.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Not inherently game deciding, but you never know what would have happened next. Bases loaded and 1 out isn't the worst spot you can be in. 3 run rallies happen all the time, Cards did it last night.

Or the next guy coulda struck out or hit into a double play, I just don't like garbage calls impacting how a game goes. That doesn't mean I think the winner would be different, but it changed the course of things. I haven't seen a call that bad since...Monday of last week.

The throwing errors and crappy 1-8 hitting with runners in scoring position is all on the Braves though.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well I was right about one thing, that game last night was very much like a little league game!

I don't think I have seen that many bush league errors in one game before..

Oh well.. I will be officially done with MLB now, more time to focus on NFL and the walking dead...

 
well no sweep sin the DS this year. will be interesting to see who makes it through! the cards and the reds have both lost one of their top pitchers to injury now (Cueto, Garcia) but i think the Cards have a lot more depth in pitching. could be tough for the reds but they already have a lead in their series!

 
I would say under, but then again 1am ET = 11pm MT, so ending before 1am MT is very likely (unless it's postponed to the next day).

 
Yeah, us East Coasters get fucked by the timing of sporting events.

Unless I have a vested interest in the game, I bail on the SNF and MNF games at halftime or early 3rd quarter. I've been to MNF and playoff games, and I can grow a 5 o'clock shadow during the TV timeouts.

Nothing is worse than a Yanks-Sox playoff game as far that goes though. The regular season games last 4.5 hours. Throw in the extended commercial breaks, incessant pitching changes, and the fact that it rains a lot in the Northeast in October, and the game lasts for a week.

I was always amazed when visiting my former in-laws on the west coast. MNF would go off, and it would be like, ok, let's figure out something to do and get some dinner this evening.

 
Mountain time zone is the perfect one for football. Monday & Thursday night game start right after dinner (6-6:30pm) and last until about 10ish. Sundays are just perfect: Sunday NFL countdown on ESPN starts at 8am (just after waking up and having breakfast), first game at 11am, 2nd game at 2. Small break after the 2nd game for dinner, before the SNF game starts at 6:30 then goes till 10ish. A literall full-day of football.

 
so the yankees have one guy who can hit and they dont even start him...

better than the nationals who have one guy who can pitch and dont even put him on the roster!!!!

 

Similar threads

RIP - VTEnviro
MLB Playoffs 2009
2 3
Replies
54
Views
2K
goodal
goodal
Road Guy
Youth Coaching (sports)
2 3
Replies
49
Views
2K
Road Guy
Road Guy
Dark Knight
Baseball 2010
2 3
Replies
50
Views
2K
Supe
S

Latest posts

Back
Top