What an unbelievably incompetent call in wildcard game

[viningsgator]

Haven't been at the game it was completely surreal. Once the official announcement was made the place went nuts.

The call itself has to be considered as one of the worst calls in MLB history. The call in itself didn't cost the Braves the game but it certainly robbed them of the opportunity. The Braves were awful defensively outside of Heyward's catch and could never quite seem to get a timely hit.

[Angaza]

Originally Posted by Spurffelbow833

Also annoying, and yet one more thing about modern sports media that I detest, is how the broadcast crew thought it was so necessary to lecture us on how everyone should feel about the fan reaction to the bad call.

The moralizing to the Braves fans was condescending. It seemed like an attempt to deflect off the bad call.

[daswamp]

what a bad call. looking at the replay, the ball was about 40 feet off the turf when the so called ump, called the infield fly rule. the throw was being made back to the infield when the third base upm raised his arm to signal the infield fly. bull crap. how can you blame the fans for such a bad call. in college football they might suspend or fire the ump for sduch a call.

[gatorcop]

Originally Posted by go7gator

It was not a bad call. First, the rule requires an infielder to camp under the ball, and it does not matter if he is in the outfield when doing so. Kozma camped.

Second, the third base umpire and the left field umpire each lifted their arms to make the call the moment Kozma camped under the ball.

Third, the Braves have players who have never experienced the stress of a do-or-die game, except perhaps those that they choked in last September. Those players made errors that little leaguers don't even make. To Chipper's credit, he said after the game that the call did not cost the Braves the game. But when a team is as hapless under pressure as the Braves, the self-serving impulse is to blame someone else. Let's not forget... the Braves blew almost every run-scoring opportunity they had last night. Braves got a gift two-run homer when the ump gave Ross a second chance to we another pitch after being struck out.

Braves fans are a disgrace to baseball. Throwing beer cans onto the playing field en masse. They should have been escorted out of the stadium -- none were -- and the Commissioner's office should have called a forfeit. It took 30 minutes to clean the field. The Cards' set-up man stood around on the mound and wasn't allowed to warm-up again after the delay. This meant lifting him and bringing in their closer an inning early. Ridiculous.

This was a bad day, but not because of any thing the umps did on the infield fly.

The LF umpire raised his hand 5.4 seconds into the 6 second play, and the 3B umpire made the call at 6.1 seconds, after the ball had landed. Both runners advanced without a play. The call is supposed to be made immediately and wasn't. And it is apparent that they made the bad call, that is supposed to protect the offense, when both advanced without a throw. Marginal or not, the MLB and Joe Torre (former Cardinals Manager), just like the NFL did against the Packers, supported a bad call.

I don't think that cost the Braves the game, 3 errors and 3 unearned runs did, but it was a game changer.

[trufloridagator]

Originally Posted by go7gator

It was not a bad call. First, the rule requires an infielder to camp under the ball, and it does not matter if he is in the outfield when doing so. Kozma camped.

Second, the third base umpire and the left field umpire each lifted their arms to make the call the moment Kozma camped under the ball.

Third, the Braves have players who have never experienced the stress of a do-or-die game, except perhaps those that they choked in last September. Those players made errors that little leaguers don't even make. To Chipper's credit, he said after the game that the call did not cost the Braves the game. But when a team is as hapless under pressure as the Braves, the self-serving impulse is to blame someone else. Let's not forget... the Braves blew almost every run-scoring opportunity they had last night. Braves got a gift two-run homer when the ump gave Ross a second chance to we another pitch after being struck out.

Braves fans are a disgrace to baseball. Throwing beer cans onto the playing field en masse. They should have been escorted out of the stadium -- none were -- and the Commissioner's office should have called a forfeit. It took 30 minutes to clean the field. The Cards' set-up man stood around on the mound and wasn't allowed to warm-up again after the delay. This meant lifting him and bringing in their closer an inning early. Ridiculous.

This was a bad day, but not because of any thing the umps did on the infield fly.

It was a bad day and proves why there should never be a 1 game playoff in a sport that has more variance than any other. What a joke

Sent from my iPhone using GatorCountry

[willymayshayes]

Originally Posted by outbackjack

Go7

1. Wrong
2. Wrong

1. The infielder was never camped....he never even reached the spot the ball eventually landed. He was running the entire time, until the point of giving way.

2. The beauty of DVR is you can easily frame by frame this. The SS gives way, the umps arm is down, the ball is closing in on the grass, AND THEN THE ARM GOES UP.

There is ZERO debating it. Rewatch it.

Agree. It was a horrible call.

[Gat0r]

Stevie Wonder thought it was a great call!!

[AndrewSpivey]

I wish I could post my comments in here but I don't want to think about the game anymore. Heartbreaking.

[dadx4]

That was a bs call period.

[romeg8r]

No Go7, the third base umpire did not make the call until after the left umpire made the call and then he just signalled the call to the infield. And distance from the plate MUST be considered with the infield fly rule. The 225 feet from home plate where this ball landed is longer than the longest infield fly rule that ESPN could find by 47 feet. It was a crap call. And it was crap call for the very reason that we saw. Because the ball was in that dead zone where it might fall. The infield fly rule is there to protect the runners from an infielder dropping the ball intentionally to turn a double or triple play. The fact that all runners were easily safe is evidence that the rule did not apply here.

[gatorbogey]

saw the replay - that was pretty deep to be an infield fly rule ball. can you only call 'infield fly rule' while the ball is in the air?

[scbeerman]

Another lifelong Braves fan who is heartbroken over the whole mess. Yes, the Braves made a mess of this game, throwing it all over the park, but that call was horrible. When that ball dropped, I never even considered the infield fly rule. On the other hand, when the catcher hit Simmons on his bunt attempt, I immediately thought that Simmons was out of the baseline (which was correctly ruled).

Baseball needs to make this a best of three playoff to minimize the effect of such a call.

[cbj349]

Halley has it correct.

[ASteele15]

Originally Posted by AndrewSpivey

I wish I could post my comments in here but I don't want to think about the game anymore. Heartbreaking.

Dude chippers gone, wierd

[halleygator]

Originally Posted by cbj349

Halley has it correct.

^
this

[gatoron89]

The one game playoff is horrible when you have a team that has the 4th best record in baseball and 6 games clear of the Cards and have it all come down to one game. The Braves beat themselves but anything thing can happen in one game. I hope MLB will modify the format going forward. Go Gators!!

[hocgators]

Just another example of baseball umpires hiding behind rules by being too literal with its interpretation. If these guys used a bit of common sense on plays like this, but even more important, agreed to CORRECT one another when they huddle to get a play correct. In football, you see refs change a call and wave off a flag all the time. But the smugness of baseball officials is suffocating. I could have cared less who won that baseball game last night, but as I watched the play, and how it was handled post play, I was upset.

[UFNut]

From a completely objective standpoint as someone who couldn't give two flips for either of these teams (or MLB in general), I think the call was valid. Was it a bit weak? Maybe, but it was valid. There is no distance requirement on the rule. The infielder stopped and was in position to make an easy catch, at which point the ump raised his fist and the play was dead, right there at that moment in time. Nothing else matters, play is over. FYI, I had to watch youtube replay cause I didn't watch the game.

From the official MLB rule book:
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.
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.
When an infield fly rule is called, runners may advance at their own risk. If on an infield fly rule, the infielder intentionally drops a fair ball, the ball remains in play despite the provisions of Rule 6.05 (L). The infield fly rule takes precedence.

[gatorgunner]

Horrible call!

[scbeerman]

Pretty much every playoff scenario in all levels of baseball is at least double elimination. They have to make this best 2 out of 3.

I think they were trying to recreate the last day of the 2011 season, but they failed.