Worst call ever. I was mad for weeks.Sam Holbrook is umpiring this series. Put all your money on the Cardinals.
(It was the right call)Worst call ever. I was mad for weeks.
(It was the right call)
Yeah, I'm sure as a Cardinals fan you are unbiased.(It was the right call)
That's not how infield fly is defined. Kozma could have caught it with ordinary effort. A botched call off attempt late in the play does not change that. Kozma was camped underneath the fly ball. Kozma was an infielder. Therefore, infield fly rule applies.
Baseball field according to Sam Holbrook
As opposed to Braves fans being the paragon of objectivity?Yeah, I'm sure as a Cardinals fan you are unbiased.
(It was the right call)
Yeah, this ain't it Jerry
I'd like to know analytics such as 'What % of batted balls like that have since been ruled IFF' and 'What % of Shortstops make that putout on batted balls like that'....I'm willing to bet the answer is very, very low in both cases.
Just think about the IFF rule and why it exists, so you can't get a double play on a pop up. Look at how far into the OF that ball was...the runners were halfway like they were taught. Even if the defense purposefully drops that ball, they aren't doubling you off unless you make a real baserunning blunder.
The ball was way too deep in the outfield for that 1) to be an 'ordinary' play by an infielder and 2) to actually do the thing the rule exists to prevent.
Bad call, also watch when Holbrook's arm goes up..like a half-second before the ball drops to the ground. More proof that it was far from 'ordinary'.
They couldn't get one out because of the miscommunication. Again, imagine if Kozma hadn't change course, which Holbrook did not know when he called it. Kozma would have been right there. If he had intentionally let that drop, he could have easily gone to third and then likely onto second to get a double play. You can see the runner on second drift back to the bag because of how routine that fly ball looked like for Kozma.The fact that the ball dropped and they weren’t able to get any of the force outs on the runners advancing tells me that it shouldn’t have been an infield fly. The whole point of the rule is to prevent the defence from making a bush league double play. They couldn’t even get one out let alone two.
The analytics are irrelevant. It doesn't have to be an ordinary play, nor does it have to prevent the double play. Nor does it have to be in the infield. That's not the way the rule is written. It's ordinary effort by an infielder. Kozma was not sprinting. When Holbrook called the IFF, Kozma was backpedaling and looked like he was settling under it. Because he was. It was less ordinary that he suddenly sprinted out of the way (ostensibly due to being called off). You can complain about how the rule is written, or how this wasn't in the spirit of the rule (even though it is) but under the letter of the law, it's pretty obviously the right call. People are just mad because they don't understand that being in the infield isn't at all a relevant factor. If it wasn't Kozma settling under the ball, it wouldn't have been IFF.
Also, Holbrook's arm goes up when it looks like Kozma is slowly backpedaling to the ball.
They couldn't get one out because of the miscommunication. Again, imagine if Kozma hadn't change course, which Holbrook did not know when he called it. Kozma would have been right there. If he had intentionally let that drop, he could have easily gone to third and then likely onto second to get a double play. You can see the runner on second drift back to the bag because of how routine that fly ball looked like for Kozma.
Getting a double play is still irrelevant. But because we’re into making definitive counterhistorical statements, it would have been a guaranteed double play and Braves fans would be claiming it should have been an infield fly.No. There was no way they were getting a double play on that. It was a botched call. It went your way. You don’t need to defend it.
Getting a double play is still irrelevant. But because we’re into making definitive counterhistorical statements, it would have been a guaranteed double play and Braves fans would be claiming it should have been an infield fly.