If MLB wants to remedy fans throwing items onto the field, fix the real problem.

Also, I’m disgusted by the pontificating of the announcers from their ivory booth. It’s just so fake and calculated – clearly every one of them are just recited MLB talking points when such events occur.

I strongly second your admonishment of highump.

Just on the assertion that that was somehow an Infield Fly Rule play is completely wrong:

An INFIELD FLY is a fair fly ball (not including a line drive nor an attempted bunt) which can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort, when first and second, or first, second and third bases are occupied, before two are out. The pitcher, catcher and any outfielder who stations himself in the infield on the play shall be considered infielders for the purpose of this rule.

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. If the ball is near the baselines, the umpire shall declare “Infield Fly, if Fair. …

Rule 2.00 (Infield Fly) Comment: On the infield fly rule the umpire is to rule whether the ball could ordinarily have been handled by an infielder— not by some arbitrary limitation such as the grass, or the base lines. The umpire must rule also that a ball is an infield fly, even if handled by an outfielder, if, in the umpire’s judgment, the ball could have been as easily handled by an infielder. The infield fly is in no sense to be considered an appeal play. The umpire’s judgment must govern, and the decision should be made immediately.

The umpires judgement was just wrong.

atlanta fans making excuses-what happened could happen anywhere. No $H!T, same as when something happens in philly. except when it does its completely overblown.

Been to games everywhere and seen ahole fans everywhere, usually the total aholes are just drunks not real fans.

Dont be mad cuz your fanbase is weak and your chop is weak and zombie like and your one and done. it happens

where is that jerk that always posts articles mocking philly fans???

The absolutely wonderful outcropping of all this is not only did his Braves get totally robbed, the fans there totally and completely shamed the city of Atlanta…there is nothing he can ever ever ever say to change it, and now every single time he posts some jerk article about the phillies, we phils fans can just say …

well at least we didn’t get screwed out of the wild card by the new rule, get screwed out of the game by a bad call, and look like a pathetic drunken mod in front of millions of viewers…

so go ahead and point to the 60′s and 70′s as if they matter…forget santa clause, forget the disco sucks disaster…The Atlanta Braves are now the post child of bad fans..

bye chipper, hope you enjoyed your last game (btw, he was out on that last play)

Way to send chipper out sure he loved that send off

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=yankees+orioles+teixeira+double+play&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=kp8&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1280&bih=707&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=Cwi11Y2Ktr-E6M:&imgrefurl=http://www.businessinsider.com/photo-here-is-the-embarassing-blown-call-that-may-have-cost-the-yankees-their-division-lead-2012-9&docid=F3ZGUVBEAwkDaM&imgurl=http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/504c03736bb3f77447000013-960/orioles-yankees.jpg&w=933&h=530&ei=zxBwUMefGoqV0QH1l4GwAw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=43&sig=113179066523194749660&page=1&tbnh=116&tbnw=204&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0,i:82&tx=41&ty=67

Yeah, the braves pissed it away tonight, the lost, and they should have never let it get to the point where one call could even be a factor. That being said, that does not give the umps a free pass on a blown call, game changer or not. You get nine innings to play, no matter what you’ve done to that point. So the “it doesn’t really matter” argument is lost on me because there were 2 more innings to go.

So no, it didn’t happen tonight….umps or not. But I believe i detect the scent of an arrogant winner….unlike most cards fans.

I can’t think of one, usually an infielder standing under a fly, not chasing one.

“An INFIELD FLY is a fair fly ball (not including a line drive nor an attempted bunt) which can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort, when first and second, or first, second and third bases are occupied, before two are out. The pitcher, catcher and any outfielder who stations himself in the infield on the play shall be considered infielders for the purpose of this rule.
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. If the ball is near the baselines, the umpire shall declare “Infield Fly, if Fair.”
The ball is alive and runners may advance at the risk of the ball being caught, or retouch and advance after the ball is touched, the same as on any fly ball. If the hit becomes a foul ball, it is treated the same as any foul.
If a declared Infield Fly is allowed to fall untouched to the ground, and bounces foul before passing first or third base, it is a foul ball. If a declared Infield Fly falls untouched to the ground outside the baseline, and bounces fair before passing first or third base, it is an Infield Fly.”

1. As the first part of the rule states, an infield fly isn’t defined by location on the field; it’s defined whether an infielder can catch it with ordinary effort. Note that Pete Kozma was settling under the ball he suddenly turned head to look behind him *and ran forward,* as if Holliday had called him off.

2. As the second part of the rule states, the umpire is supposed to call the infield fly rule as soon as it becomes apparent it is one. The Youtube video that anmesia posted clearly shows that the umpire on the left field line called it–his arm is goes up right when Kozma suddenly lurched forward (see 1:48 of the video) and right after he seems to set up to make the catch (compare Kozma’s body language to David Freese’s dropped pop-up in Game 6 last year).

The infield fly rule was created to prevent fielders from deceiving runners by intentionally dropping balls. That’s the only justification that that umpire has in calling the rule–he saw Kozma suddenly abandon the fly ball and called the rule to prevent a double-play that never was going to happen. Otherwise, there’s no reason to call it in that situation–while Kozma easily could have caught that ball, the timing between him settling under the ball and the ball coming down shouldn’t have allowed for the rule. The runners obviously wouldn’t have “received the benefit” of the call being made–they were both off the bag as the ball was coming down.

Holliday’s bewilderment behind the play speaks volumes–I’m not sure exactly what happened with Kozma there. Kozma is obviously reacting to something, whether it’s Holliday’s footsteps or somebody yelling at him. But his reaction is just weird.