In addition, did Kozma get out of the way because he heard the ump call for Infield Fly or because of miscommunication between the Left Fielder Matt Holliday? Harold claims that Kozma let the ball drop because he heard the ump, however there is no concrete proof of this. It behooves the player to always catch the ball unless they are out to deceive the runner. Catching the ball ensures that the runners have to get the hell back to their base, especially in the playoffs where you don’t want to risk them advancing on a dropped IF (the ball is still live, remember?).

Now that we’ve established that most players want to catch the ball in the playoffs regardless of the situation and are not going to risk deception, it means that Kozma most likely screwed up and thought Holliday called for it. As a result, if the Iinfield Fly was not called, Atlanta has bases loaded 1 out (i.e. in very very good position to win the game) instead of 2nd/3rd, 2 outs. Instead, Kozma misses it and gets bailed out by the ump’s late call.

Summary:
1) Another crappy example from the regular season does that not change the fact that it’s still a late call in both scenarios.
2) I strongly believe that Kozma would have caught that ball if he could, but miscommunication prevented that from happening regardless of whether Infield Fly was called or not.
3) The ump’s late Infield Fly bails out Kozma from missing the ball, and Atlanta is screwed out of a rosy bases loaded 1 out scenario.

“ORDINARY EFFORT is the effort that a fielder of average skill at a position in that league or classification of leagues should exhibit on a play, with due consideration given to the condition of the field and weather conditions.
Rule 2.00 (Ordinary Effort) Comment: This standard, called for several times in the Official Scoring Rules (e.g., Rules 10.05(a)(3), 10.05(a)(4), 10.05(a)(6), 10.05(b)(3) (Base Hits); 10.08(b) (Sacrifices); 10.12(a)(1) Comment, 10.12(d)(2) (Errors); and 10.13(a), 10.13(b) (Wild Pitches and Passed Balls)) and in the Official Baseball Rules (e.g., Rule 2.00 (Infield Fly)), is an objective standard in regard to any particular fielder. In other words, even if a fielder makes his best effort, if that effort falls short of what an average fielder at that position in that league would have made in a situation, the official scorer should charge that fielder with an error.”

Given the way the rule is defined in the rule book, it actually has nothing at all to do with what Kozma was doing and Holbrook’s reliance on watching Kozma reveals a poor application of the rules.

The problem with the infield fly rule (as we saw in the Braves-Cardinals Wild Card game) is that it can bail out a fielder when he simply is unable to catch the fly ball. I think the fielder should ALWAYS accomplish the actual feat of catching the fly ball. If he does not make the catch – either because he is trying to fool the baserunners into running off the base OR he simply makes an error – then the offensive team should not be penalized by granting an out to the defensive team.

You can NEVER have enough Harold’s to get things right.

My first instinct was to suggest no forceout could be made on an infield fly, but that hurts the defensive team, as Holliday likely had a play at second or third.

Upon consideration, I believe the best thing to do is to have the umpire announce infield fly, but not call the batter out. Instead allow the play to finish, then give the offensive coach the choice of either the outcome of the play, or the batter being called out.

Picture guys on first/second with nobody out. The ball is hit to the SS who’s playing at his standard position. The runners aren’t going to go off the bag, because it’s an easy catch.

Except the SS let’s the ball drop, allowing him to throw to third for one out and second for the other. So he gets the double play.

The infield fly rule prevents that, so even if the fielder drops it as in my example the batter is automatically out.

Forcing the fielder to catch the ball effectively eliminates the whole idea behind the infield fly rule. Which is to prevent the runners from being doubled up on a routine fly ball.

So long story short, no, the fielder shouldn’t be required to catch the ball.

“The call should be made when the ball has reached its highest point and is about to fall.”

1. He called it way too late even had Kozma caught it.
2. He called it after Kozma had moved away from the ball.
3. It’s never ordinary when two defenders are on a course into each other.
4. The rule is to prevent the double-play, no way in hell can someone drop a ball there and double up the runners.

The only thing I could think that they could change in the rule would be for playoffs and stating that an OF umpire cannot call an infield fly. That seems like common sense now, but obviously it wasn’t placed in the rules beforehand.

It’s a tough job, but it just seems like the umpire was trying too hard to be perfect here. You gotta let them play sometimes.