Originally Posted by
gloopy
Few things excite a crowd more than a home run or the other team dropping a easy catch. The loudest I've ever heard a baseball crowd cheer was back in the ATL/SFO rivalry days when both teams had won over 102 games but only one was going to the playoffs (no wild card back then) and SFO was playing ATL at the cookie cutter stadium. A pop fly was hit to Barry Bonds who pranced under it and did his thigh-shoulder-thigh-shoulder glove tap while waiting on it, then dramatically snapped it up with one hand. The ball popped out and the crowd went nuts. Literally far more than for a walk off home run.
So its understandable that the crowd thought that ball should result in a big continuartion of the late game rally. But the infield fly rule exists for a reason. If we didn't have it, routine pop ups would be intentionally dropped and turned into double plays. How stupid would that be? The rule clearly says that the definition of an IFF is if the infielder can routinely get to it. In the game against the cards, the infielder could routinely get to it. He just dropped it because of a communication issue but that is 100% irrelevant. It had already been called. Case closed. Play better next year and win the division to get a full series.
The display by the crowd after was way too much like soccer BTW. Ew.
Agree crowd reaction was a fowl.
But;
A) that play was in no way shape or form a valid application of the IFF. Ordinary effort is not 75' out in the outfield.
B) If it was going to be called it should have been called much earlier. The runners did not have time to return to tthier original base when he called it. The intent is to "protect" the runners from being caught in no mans land and the infielder intentionally dropping the ball to get an easy double or triple play. Had he intentionally dropped that ball he would have been lucky to get the lead runner much less get a double play.
Bottom Line: Horrid call poorly executed. And the umps and MLB are TOTDs for not owning up to it afterwards.