...the Braves get screwed by the umps.  More than makes up for the Jerry Meals debacle.

He waited until it was almost in the SS glove and I think the player thought he was being called off by the LF. I sometimes wonder what's going through these official's heads.

It was actually the right call.  Harold Reynolds on the MLB Network explained it beautifully with other examples, etc.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN1Wenisxtc

Reynolds said every player knows that rule and as a middle infielder you are intructed to run as far as you can into the outfield, expecially when you have a slow outfielder (like Holiday).

In this case - blame the rule, not the umps.

But yes, its great to see the Braves feeling like they got cheated.

Blame the rule, not the umps is correct.

I looked up the official rule and it clearly states that if it can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort, it's an infield fly...even if it's an outfielder who ends up making the catch.

Unfortunately, this can (as it did last night) fly in the face of the main intent of the rule itself. That whole intent of the rule is to prevent the defensive team from having an unfair advantage over the offensive team in being able to turn a double play. With 1st and 2nd occupied and less than 2 outs, the runners have to stay close to their respective bases so as not to be doubled off after the catch is made. Without the infield fly rule, every pop up in the infield under those circumstances would pretty much be an automatic double play by having the ball drop, throwing to 3rd for a force out and then throwing to second for another force.

That is why the rule exists.

By calling last night's pop up and infield fly, the umpire (the rule) was implying that the shortstop could have gotten into position, allowed the ball to drop, picked it up and made the LONG throw to third, followed by another to second before either runner would have had a chance to reach their next base.

In my eyes, a force at third would probably have happened, but at second? Impossible! Watch the replay of when the runners reached their bases after the drop. Impossible.

That rule proved to be patently unfair to the Braves, calls into question who the true winner of that game should have or would have been, and needs to be revisited...and revised.

That rule proved to be patently unfair to the Braves, calls into question who the true winner of that game should have or would have been, and needs to be revisited...and revised.

Much like the Stan Belinda strikes that were called balls against Damon Berryhill in Game 7 of the '92 playoffs.  It took 20 years, but was goes around comes around...

It was the right call, but it was late. Why did he wait so long to make it?

BAMSTEELERFAN wrote: It was the right call, but it was late. Why did he wait so long to make it?

If you watch that clip that Sangue posted, I think Reynolds gives a very good explanation to your question.  I thought the same as you when I first saw the play, but Reynolds comments satisfied my questions.

TBayXXXVII wrote:

BAMSTEELERFAN wrote: It was the right call, but it was late. Why did he wait so long to make it?

If you watch that clip that Sangue posted, I think Reynolds gives a very good explanation to your question.  I thought the same as you when I first saw the play, but Reynolds comments satisfied my questions.

Yep - you can't call it until the ball is at at least its apex and the infielder has to establish control under the ball.