I wrote about it here. I had a look at the video and it was the right call given the rule, but as I argued in the original post the rule is an unnecessary kludge. At best, it does nothing (in equilibrium.)
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October 6, 2012 at 8:56 am
Anonymous
You are alone on that opinion. Not only is that a difficult catch for an infielder but the rule states that the call must be made immediately not as the ball is about to hit the ground.
October 6, 2012 at 9:15 am
Anonymous
Per Buster Olney:
In the past 3 seasons, there were six infield flies not caught, the longest at 178 feet. Friday’s infield fly was measured at 225 feet.
October 6, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Turing Test
Except that the ball fell in the outfield, not the infield
October 6, 2012 at 5:03 pm
Roger
To clear up some misconceptions about the rule:
a) An “infield fly” does not necessarily have to be in the infield. “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…”
b) The umpire was perfectly within his rights to call an infield fly at that point. It does not need to be called immediately, it needs to be called immediately AFTER it has become apparent that it can be caught with ordinary effort. “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.”
The umpire made the right call, at at least a right call. It may not have clearly been an “ordinary effort” catch, but it was close enough that it’s all a judgement call.
October 7, 2012 at 9:04 pm
Donald A. Coffin
This is actually a comment on your May 15, 2009, post. In which you got two things wrong (one of which one commenter then corrected). The second was your proposal that the batter, on an extremely high pop fly, should pass the runner who is holding on first base. But this, too, is wrong, In this case, the batter would be out for having passed a baserunner [Rule 7.08 (h)] ahead of him.