Comments on: Braves’ protest immediately denied by league office

By: wbcsports2

wbcsports2 — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:34:54 +0000

3 points
1. The shortstop pulled up not because he saw the IFR
called, but because of footsteps of the galloping LF.
2. The ump clearly did not make the call until the ball was on the ground.
The judgement was could the SS have made the catch, maybe, but he clearly slammed on the brakes because of the LF.
3. It sucks that the Braves handed their play off spot to the Cards on a silver platter last year, but then had MLB do it with this stupid play in game. It should be shot into space never to be thought of again except on trivia night!

By: jmc4352

jmc4352 — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 21:55:53 +0000

The problem with your referencing the intricacies of the IFR is that you (and the ump that made the call) completely disregard the purpose of the rule. That purpose is to protect the runners. That being said, the ump did not make the call until after it was obvious to everyone, except an umpire nation blinded by solidarity, that there was miscommunication between infielder and outfielder. Basically, the ump rewarded the defense for a fielding error.

By: forsch31

forsch31 — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 20:29:23 +0000

More explanation is obviously needed….

Kozma abandoned the fly ball when he thought he heard Matt Holliday call him off. What he heard was the umpire calling the infield fly rule. If the call isn’t made, Kozma catches that ball and there are two out with runners on first and second.

Once the call for the infield fly rule is made, it doesn’t matter what Kozma does–the batter is out and the runners stay where they are. That’s the rule. First and second with two outs.

Same situation would have happened. Instead, the fans delayed the game, causing a change to the pitcher. So instead of Mitchell Boggs, who was not pitching well, the Braves faced the Cardinals’ closer.

So yes, the fans had more of an effect on the game than the call.

By: Moose

Moose — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 18:28:08 +0000

Nothing says the Braves would have won. The Braves beat the Braves. Errors, bad baserunning, poor ABs. Had the call not been made nothing says McCann wouldn’t have hit into a double play. Motte was called in ONLY because so much time passed.

By: ksctychiefs

ksctychiefs — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 18:26:55 +0000

a tag up at first,then a run to second……or even a tag up at 2nd,and a run to 3rd…..either way ,the runner will be ‘sliding’ into either base(2nd or 3rd),and a good throw will be very,very close…..a great throw will nail the runner!!….double play quite doable so runner needs the protection as the infield rule provided….

By: 4everbucs

4everbucs — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 17:59:39 +0000

Problem with rule is that you could never pull off double play from that far out if you drop on purpose. Get rid of it and let the chips fall…

By: albertmn

albertmn — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 17:55:03 +0000

Yep, we should rewrite the entire rule book just because of one play.

By: 4everbucs

4everbucs — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 17:53:54 +0000

Same thing in AL. Yanks to Baltimore. You go down 2-0 on the road hard to come home and win 3 in a row. I dont like it.

By: 4everbucs

4everbucs — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 17:40:56 +0000

Play a few less regular season games (back to 154), make the WC best of 3 in the better records team city(that way a team can have a bad game) and still get World Series in before the snow flies.

By: brewpack42

brewpack42 — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 17:01:36 +0000

Hey Rarson why don’t you watch the replay, Kozma bails and then the ump makes the call and not the other way around. You can thumbs down me but there is link above to the replay. Watch it over and over, the ump does not make the call until he starts to bail.

By: ericmcknight2012

ericmcknight2012 — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 14:45:54 +0000

This call would have been upheld by replay. When the trajectory of the ball makes it apparent that it will be beyond the infield, the umpire has to, first, determine if the infielder is in position to make the play, then determine if it was “ordinary effort” If the umpire was more emphatic making the call, this would have been less controversial. He casually raised his arm when he should have been running toward the ball, screaming at the top of his lungs “Infield Fly!”

By: rarson

rarson — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 14:37:05 +0000

That’s stupid. You can’t change what happened on the field with instant replay. You can’t appeal the call because the call created the play.

Braves fans need to get over it. Kozma had the ball until the infield fly was called. It was the wrong call, but because it was late, your guys got to advance to second and third. Without that call, Kozma would have caught it and you would have been stuck on first and second.

By: ericmcknight2012

ericmcknight2012 — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 14:35:51 +0000

I’ve been an umpire at several levels for 20 years, and looking at the replay, the umpire clearly made the correct call. It was actually an easy call to make. Infield Fly is one of those calls, as an official, you love to make because, although it’s been in the rule book for a very long time, players and fans don’t understand the application. The name itself is deceptive. It should be called “Infielder’s Fly”. By rule, a pop-up could theoretically come down anywhere inside the foul lines, as long as an infielder can use “ordinary effort” to get under the ball, in the umpire’s judgement. The criteria for “ordinary effort”? Did the fielder casually walk or jog under the fly ball or did he completely turn his body and sprint? It also doesn’t matter who catches the ball, as long as the fielder uses ordinary or routine effort to move in position to catch a fly ball .

By: lncrprl

lncrprl — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 14:19:01 +0000

Yeah……………..Right!

By: lncrprl

lncrprl — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 14:17:28 +0000

LOUDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: bigtrav425

bigtrav425 — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 09:57:06 +0000

it was a bad call hands down.that rule also needs to be remade..its a horrible rule anyways.not that im a braves fan but they got screwed.MLB could of had a possible great story with chipper and going deep into the postseason.instead they ended up with him and the braves getting the shaft because of another umps bad call of a horrible rule……and I also do not like the “play in game”.either have 1 wild card team pr bump it to 2

By: tashkalucy

tashkalucy — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 06:41:46 +0000

For well over 3 decades MLB was my favorite sport.

But the total lack of INTEGRITY – from botched calls with umpires making excuses (the one on the called third strike that then wasn’t which got the White Sox past the Angles in 2005 was the classic), to the unbalanced financial situation due to lack of equal sharing of cable TV money, to the steroid era where everyone in America except for the Commissioners Office knew full well what was going on, to the players union not giving in on anything that does not make them more money, to the BS player agents that lie to hometown fans about how much their client want to stay with the team and how he loves it there – always taking more money somewhere else (like the $100 million dollar offer the hometown team made him is simply not good enough)……MLB is just a joke.

But the truth is that baseball is still the greatest sport ever invented. The fact that all the above people have tried everything they can to destroy it, yet it still retains the interest of the sporting public, is a testimony to how great the sport really is. Then again, maybe the American public just wants to sit and get obese on salty snacks and beer while watching sports – I mean, how else do we account for any interest at all in the NBA?

By: nofunleague

nofunleague — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 05:11:41 +0000

They will rename the rule, The Infielder Fly rule, since that is the intent, that the infielder will make the play. Not in the infield, but by the infielder. Stops the cheap double play which hangs the base runners out to dry

By: dawgpoundmember

dawgpoundmember — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 05:04:30 +0000

Dear Selig,

I don’t know which post I should comment but I feel this is the best,

I watched the entire game and I do not know how you call an infield fly when it is clearly in the outfield?

Yes, the foul line umpire made the call, but he should know his duties if he is calling a playoff game, when it is a one win or lose.

The quick reply on the protest just shows you wanted nothing to do with this, you asked for intense last game and it back fired. The game should have never happened but in the AL both teams had the same record.

Sincerely,
All baseball fans

P.S. You have outlived your welcome

By: nofunleague

nofunleague — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 05:04:11 +0000

Exactly right, Immediately …becomes apparent the infielder can catch the ball. He camped under it, the umps arm went up then the infielder gave way to the outfielder. The play was called immediately upon the infielder being able to catch the ball. did I repeat my self….consider that the replay.

By: rgledz

rgledz — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 04:43:22 +0000

Why would the division winning Nationals be traveling to St. Louis to start the series?? The wildcard team gets home field??

By: ksctychiefs

ksctychiefs — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 04:07:01 +0000

umps made the right call……you have to call the infield fly rule while ball in the air…..ump can see that if they drop it on purpose,even deep in the infield, or in this case really the outfield, they can still easily throw to 2nd and set off the double play….however it did look bad as the players screwed up in handling the play and the ump cant foresee that,ump was late in raising his own hand,and it was not in the home teams advantage setting off the crowd….but the delay in the ump raising his hand was probably due to a split second double take in looking at the ball in the air,and then judging distance of potential throw back to 2nd,which ump had a great visual angle on both…….in the end he made the correct call…..

By: deiong

deiong — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 03:29:19 +0000

i dont think the braves would have won, but still why is it that when games begin to matter in any sport, blown calls are becoming the norm? i could care less who wins this game or not, but sports in general every year the calls get worse and worse… i actually like the nfl challenge call, because at least they have a chance to fix human error, and it seems humans are more prone to error every year.. and its human nautre to favor a team. noone can truely say they dont. its human nauture to. you can stop that process, you can try as hard as you want to be 100 percent fair, but even those who do try fail often. why not make it more pure by makign the ones who make bad calls be more responsible. its the nature of the beast no checks and balances.

By: mrredlegz

mrredlegz — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 03:10:06 +0000

I’m pretty sure that an infield fly is ‘apparent’ well before it is on it’s way back down to earth. I just don’t understand how you can make that call a split second before the ball hits the ground.

By: azpackerbacker

azpackerbacker — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 02:49:55 +0000

Misery loves Company.

Sincerely,
Packer fans everywhere.

By: greymares

greymares — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 02:35:39 +0000

good call/bad call who cares what i want to know is how did all those Phillies fans get tickets for that game ? lol. Craig I guess you have to stop blasting Philadelphia fans now.

By: nlfan865

nlfan865 — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 02:24:58 +0000

Ranks right up there with the Kent Hrbek call http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VKXIdYHkj4 and Scooter Libby being pardoned!!!!

By: brewcrewfan54

brewcrewfan54 — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 02:24:05 +0000

Hey, I didn’t say the umps wouldn’t circle the wagons but at least they had to sit there and answer questions about the call they made. That usually isn’t the case.

By: sshirley1

sshirley1 — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 02:21:05 +0000

The infield fly rule was made to protect offense from easy double play for defense. If that is the case then there should be a penalty for ‘not’ catching the ball. Batter should get first and all runners automatically get 1 base. Once reaching that one base, they then could advance at there own risk. This should have been an error on one or both St Louis players. THEY screwed up but got NO penalty. Not even an error on the books. UMPS are NOT to call infield fly unless the ball should be caught under ordinary circumstances. If the ball does turn out to be uncatchable all runners normally would advanceat least one base anyway.

By: nlfan865

nlfan865 — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 02:05:43 +0000

AS FAR AS IM CONCERNED MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL CAN GO F THEMSELVES….BUD SELIG SHOULD BE TARRED AND FEATHERED….THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE LAST STRAW!!!!