4 thoughts on “When is an Infield Fly Not an Infield Fly?

  1. At one time I would have believed that the purpose of the rule is not to make the baseball players look stupid, but the ‘tweener plays like this make that less convincing.

    I’m guessing there are a lot of baserunners in Gonzalez’ position that would have been flat-out running on what looked as much like a ground ball. If that ball had been allowed to bounce inches shorter in the dirt, many would describe it as a ground ball. Not relevant for the fly-ball rule — a ground ball is even less a fly ball than a line drive. But there is possibly an alternative universe where a poorer baserunner does not appreciate the risk that what looks like a groundball might be caught, doesn’t tag-up, and ends up safe on third.Report

  2. But I do feel a bit better realizing that Baez didn’t get it perfect.

    Hmm. He took the easy, short throw force out at second knowing that Gonzalez can’t run and was therefore a duck in the run down. Seemed like absolutely perfect execution by my reasoning. Go Baez! Go Cubs!Report

    1. This presumes that there would be a run-down. Gonzalez could have stuck to second base and avoided that.

      If we go with the “easy, short throw” theory then this might not have been cleverness on Baez’s part at all. He might have taken the ball on the bounce simply because it was the easier fielding play, and then got credit for genius when Gonzalez made a base-running mistake. The more I think about it, the more likely this seems.Report

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