Say It Ain't So, Skip!
The broadcasting duo for the Atlanta Braves' TV games are not my favorites.
But the game on Saturday September 26 brought a new low to one of their broadcasts.
The Braves had runners on first and third. There was one out. Matt Olson hit a pop fly that the Marlins shortstop caught a few feet out onto the outfield grass. The runners held, of course. As the next batter moved toward the plate, CJ Nitkowski ( the former major leaguer) asked "It's interesting--they didn't call the infield fly rule on that?"
Brandon Gaudin agreed, saying ,"No. It was on the edge but I thought it was close enough".
Wrong. Fundamentally wrong.
And somewhere out there in the great beyond, the late, great Skip Caray has to be apoplectic. Caray famously had little tolerance for those fans who called his radio show during rain delays to ask him to explain the finer points of the infield fly rule. Sometimes it seemed they were calling just to irritate him.
The rule can seem a bit wonky for those unfamiliar with baseball. But serious fans of the sport understand it intuitively. And it actually makes eminent sense when you consider the purpose of the rule, which is:
To prevent the defense from turning a cheap double play. That's it.
Accordingly, the rule applies only under BOTH of two conditions-
1) the bases are loaded ...or there are runners on first and second
AND. ...AND
2) there are fewer than two outs.
Under those conditions, a short pop fly to the infield leaves baserunners in an unfair dilemma. If they stray too far from their respective bases, and the ball is caught, they can easily be doubled off the base from whence they started. But if they barely move off the base (in order to prevent the scenario mentioned above), they can likewise be doubled up if the infielder intentionally drops the ball at his feet, simply to take advantage by quickly then turning the play.
To prevent that problem, the baseball rule is that the batter is loudly declared out as the ball is hit , and the runners are then free to advance on their best judgment from that point.
All of that is well known to any fan who knows baseball . And it should certainly be known to anyone who played in MLB ( Nitkowski) or who announces the sport of baseball for a living ( Gaudin)
The reason— THE reason- that no infield fly rule was called here is that one of the two required conditions was not present. Here there were runners on first and third ( no bases loaded , nor runners on first and second).
That's why "they" didn't call it, Nitkowski, and that's why you, Gaudin, should be good with it.
Good grief! These are our experts? If Skip was here, he'd tell 'em!
If this is the level of expertise we're working with, I'd rather hear BG and Nit prattle on about whatever tasty dish they are chomping on (while talking) as they are wont to do sometime during the late innings.
Patrick Conarro
RamblinSports.com