6
2012
Wild Start To 2012 Post Season: The Infield Fly Rule Game
An article by 
The Cardinals beat the Braves 6-3 Friday night at Atlanta’s Turner Field. But a disputed infield fly rule call in the eight inning sent the game into complete chaos. It felt like you were watching a bizarre episode the Twilight Zone. Have a look…
What Happened?
Here is MLB.com’s official recap of the events:
The Cardinals were leading, 6-3, at the time, and Andrelton Simmons came up with runners on first and second. Simmons lifted a fly ball into short left field, and two St. Louis defenders — shortstop Peter Kozma and left fielder Matt Holliday — converged on the ball.
Kozma wound up pulling up at the last second, and Holliday wasn’t in position to make the catch. The ball dropped, but left-field umpire Sam Holbrook immediately signaled for the infield fly rule. Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez protested, and fans in the crowd pelted the playing surface with litter.
The umpire’s ruling meant that the batter was ruled out. Gonzalez filed an official protest with the umpiring crew, and the stadium waited while the situation was sorted out. The inning ended with a bases-loaded strikeout by Michael Bourn.
Braves fans reacted with outrage and pelted the field with bottles and cans. It was an ugly scene and the game was delayed for 18 minutes. This was not what anyone envisioned in MLB’s new one-game Wild Card round.
In the final analysis, the Braves played poorly. They made three costly errors and left ten men on base. Alternatively, the St. Louis Cardinals did everything right and they get to celebrate winning the first ever National League wild card playoff game.
However, on it’s own and in a vacuum, that was an outrageous call. I don’t believe it would have impacted the final outcome, but this is just another instance of umpiring at it’s worst.
Joe Torre wasted no time in backing up the umpire’s call and disallowing the Braves official protest. Braves GM Frank Wren withdrew the protest immediately after. It was an ominous start to the post season to say the least.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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“However, on it’s own and in a vacuum, that was an outrageous call. I don’t believe it would have impacted the final outcome, but this is just another instance of umpiring at it’s worst.”
Agree…it was easily one of the worse calls I have seen in a long time.
Disagree…it definitely could have impacted the final outcome. There would have been one out, with loaded bases, momentum shifted to the Braves, and the heart of their lineup coming up.
Pretty loose definition of “infield” there. Why was the left field ump making the call? And so late?
The end statment is the one that bothers me. Torre backed up the wrong call and disallowed a protest. Has Torre become the Putin of MLB this is rediculous it was a bad call and if wren wants to hangout in front of MLB headquarters with a frickin picket sign he should be alloed to.
Yeah but at the news conference he said it with such authority I even started to believe it.
How do you call that an infield fly rule? The ball hit the outfield grass. That’s a whole bunch of bull.
Harold Reynolds (former infielder) described in detail on MLB Network why the call was the right one. He even provided an example of a game this summer where the same exact call was made with Starlin Castro making a play.
I agreed at the moment that it was a terrible call, but after watching Reynolds’ explanation – they may have gotten the call right but the portion of the rule is the problem.
I would have had no problem had they immediately called infield fly. The issue is that it is supposed to be recognized immediately by the umpire as an infield fly, and called loud enough for everyone to hear. Players know the infield fly rule, and it was evident that it should never have been called by the reaction of the SS when he stopped pursuing the the fly ball thinking that it was the LF’ers ball. Generally, the fly ball has to be routine, and the infielder is camped under it. That was not a routine play. Even if the umpire did determine it was an infield fly then putting his arm up in the air, right before the ball hits the ground, is way too late.
Not to mention that the infield fly rule was instated so that the defense could not intentionally drop routine fly balls to double/triple up runners who are not advancing on the base paths due to the fly ball. It supposed to be protection for runners, not the defense. In this case, the ball dropped, and the defense had absolutely no chance at throwing out any of the runners – so it was clearly the wrong call.
I’m with you but Harold Reynolds went into great detail and had a very solid explanation as to why it was the right call even with the timing of the call. If they post the video anywhere I’ll link it. If not I suggest you DVR MLB Tonight and try to catch it yourself.
Literally Castro had almost the exact same play.
The problem isn’t the call its actually the rule. This just shows a flaw in the rule.
Found it
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25339817&topic_id=7417714
wow, great explanation and makes perfect sense now…it’s called immediately if the ball is over the infield, but since it was in the outfield the infielder has to show he is in control when the ball is at it’s highest peak. Playing this game over 30 years and you learn something new every day – that’s why it’s so great. Thanks for the video jessep!
When did the infielder appear to be in control? By the time he backed into the outfield and the ball at it’s apex the ball was still five feet behind him?
Its a judgement call, so it looked as if the infielder was camped under it and going to make the catch – he clearly could have made the catch. Unfortunately he didn’t catch it, and once he gave up on i the umpire had already made the call…I have seen many infield fly rules save infielders from dropping balls that would be considered errors, so that didn’t surprise me at all, I just never saw one that deep in the outfield before.
I still think it was too deep in the outfield to have an impact on the base runners, so it shouldn’t have been called, but after watching the breakdown in that video I have a better understanding of why he called it now…doesn’t mean I agree with the call though.
Has anyone interviewed Kozma to see what the heck he was doing…like why did he give up on that ball? Joe D – arrange an interview for Kozma with me…I have a few questions for him
That happens 50-100 times during the course of a season. The ball drops in between the two players, it’s a big gaffe but never an infield fly rule, not in the outfield. That happened at least three times to the Mets this season alone. The only reason that happened because of the extra outfield line umps that had no clue what they were doing. And in my opinion post season games should have the normal allotment of umps as a regular season game. Do the teams get to expand their rosters from 25-30? So why should the umps? To give them more bonus money? Screw that noise.
It was nice for all the world to see an exhibition of “Genteel Southern Fans!”
The braves shouldnt be mad about the infield fly rule. They should be mad that they got HOSED with the new stupid second wild card that MLB invented to create revenue. Braves won the Wild Car fair and square. There is no way, the wild car should be decided by who wins a lousy games when the braves had 7 more victories in the season than the cards did. If they wanna do a two wild card thing, then they should have a best to 3 series.