Even without Brad, Storm have "Sac Fly" Controversy Again

Storm defeated the A’s 21-4 and Duran hit for the cycle. Some things went as expected. And then there were some things that were less expected.

With Brad MacInfield Fly out of the lineup (but his favourite umpire present), Jeff stepped up to the plate for some more infield fly controversy. He hit something between a line drive and a fly ball over the pitcher’s head between second, short stop, and pitcher. The umpire’s voice was not heard on the play, and the ball dropped harmlessly to the ground before the second baseman could make the play. None of the A’s defenders looked like they were going to make the play. After the ball dropped, the A’s complained it was an infield fly. The umpire said, “yeah, that’s right, batter’s out.” At which point Jeff and many other members of Storm complained. 

MLB states , “An infield fly is any fair fly ball (not including a line drive or a bunt) which can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort.” Here is the first problem. None of the A’s players looked like they had a shot at getting to the ball with extraordinary effort, let alone ordinary effort. But the bigger issue comes later in the definition. “In these situations, the umpire will declare ‘infield fly’ for the benefit of the baserunners as soon as it is apparent that the fly ball qualifies as an infield fly.” This ump claimed that because he said, “infield fly in effect” before the pitch was thrown, the batter was out because a ball was hit in the air in the infield. However, that is not what the rule says. The rule says that the umpire must call it when it is “apparent that the fly ball qualifies as an infield fly,” which implies that a ball can be hit in the air in the infield and not qualify.

This is the third time this umpire has made strange calls surrounding infield flies. The first was an out called on a foul ball (look back at the definition). The second, the umpire overcompensated by telling the opposing team they had to touch an infield fly that had dropped before it went foul. And then tonight. 

But more upsetting than the infield fly was the A’s treatment of Rene. With two strikes Rene hit a ball back up the middle that bounced off the pitcher’s leg. That sucks. But it wasn’t intentional. Rene was obviously upset about having hit the pitcher. But the next two times Rene came to the plate, the A’s intentionally walked him. If he had hit the pitcher multiple times, maybe that would be understandable. But hitting a pitcher once on a two strike count when he was just trying not to strike out? 

For a game that was pretty much over after the first inning, there was a lot more controversy than you’d expect. Maybe if Storm just hit all the balls to the outfield their problems would end.

Storm    21  -   A's 4

Boxscore
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
A's	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	4
Storm	5	4	3	5	0	4	x	21