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Worst call in the history of baseball, and it reminded me why I hate the sport. Umpires do not care if they screw up. They know they got that infield fly call wrong, but they didn't correct it.

Braves should have said, either reverse the call or we will not come back out.
 
B1GTide said:
Worst call in the history of baseball, and it reminded me why I hate the sport. Umpires do not care if they screw up. They know they got that infield fly call wrong, but they didn't correct it.

Braves should have said, either reverse the call or we will not come back out.
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Automatic forfeit if they do. As bad of a call as it was they still have a chance to win the game, so they have to play for that.
 
Tonight is the exact reason I started this thread last night.

Absolute joke that a team the Braves won six more games than, lose a one-game playoff to, and the season is over.

Freakin' ticked. Not to mention the garbage blown call.

MLB SUX!
 
bamabomber said:
Automatic forfeit if they do. As bad of a call as it was they still have a chance to win the game, so they have to play for that.
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So? Their chances of winning in that spot were somewhere between slim and none.

Put the pressure on the officials and MLB management to do the right thing. Get Torre on the phone and tell him that if the call is not reversed right now, MLB will get it worst black eye since the Black Sox scandal as a team walks off the field at home.

Because they played the game out, they lost their leverage. No way they win this protest and are given another shot at St Louis now.
 
This is one of the reasons I have grown to dislike strongly watching MLB...after living in Atlanta in the 90's, I lost all interest in watching the games.
 
The horrible call gripes me as it is. Truth is, if the Braves play stinkin' defense, they win the game.

My main beef is the Braves having to play a team with six more losses in a one-game playoff, a type game that's normally reserved for teams tied at the end of the season.

It's garbage.
 
Never thought the MLB would uphold the protest, they denied it on the grounds that it was a judgement call (not allowed to protest judgement calls). Oh well, I'm not that upset about the call, it's not the reason the Braves lost. They had the best defense in the Majors this season and completely collapsed tonight. The 3 errors lost the game tonight. The Braves got the pitching they needed to win and the Cards only had 2 earned runs. Without the errors, Braves probably win 3-2 which would have been really close to my 3-1 prediction. I did predict the Braves 3 runs correctly!

I also change my mind on the new playoff format, I think it will be good for baseball. Ever since the wild card was introduced baseball fans have complained that it eliminated true pennant races because 2nd place teams would play for the wild card spot. Well, no one is going to like playing in these single elimination wild card games which will in turn drive teams back to focusing more on the pennant. It will never be like it was when there were just 2 divisions in each league but, I think this will bring baseball back a little closer to the old style pennant races. Or it could all be wishful thinking.


Gonna miss Chipper. He's been my favorite player for 19 years, still have his #1 draft pick baseball card some where. It's going to feel odd watching the Braves next year without him. Thank you Chipper for the great memories and for being a career Brave!
 
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As a baseball man, how does the *OUTFIELD* umpire have the authority to call a *INFIELD* Fly rule, especially when the 2nd and 3rd base umpire doesn't even make the call? The OF ump went all brain fart on us and now nothing will be done to him (he will even be allowed to continue to ump games in the playoffs). Watch MLB try and sweep this under the mat next week.

As a Cub fan, it continues to amaze me the Cardinals can continue to have such luck in these situations. I will literally smack the next Cardinals fan who does a "woe is me" attitude when a call goes agains the the Cards.

And now to the Braves.....in the words of Cris Carter...."C'mon man." Bobby Cox left earlier because of your stupid play and now Chipper goes into retirement because you guys crap your pants again. No wonder people in ATL don't fully support you.

Rant over.
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Congrats on a marvelous career, Chipper. See you in 5 @ Cooperstown, brother.
 
I was at the game. Had some decent seats on lower level under the upper deck - thankfully, so We didn't get beer on us as it was being tossed.

I am a huge baseball...and Braves fan... And I was very disappointed in the fan behavior. However, the call, while probably technically correctly applied, there is absolutely no way that it should have been applied in the situation last night. No way a DP could have been made and I would argue against it being a routine play. One analysis I read said the ball was 50+ feet further out into the outfield than any other infield fly rule ball this year. Maybe MLB needs to have a white line painted on the field and let that determine where routine plays end. I don't know.

The fan behavior killed the momentum of the inning and the umpire made a terrible call (even if technically correct). Regardless, you can't make errors and not push runs across and expect to win a playoff game. Glad I was there to see chipper, sad it ended in such a devastatingly bad way.

as an addendum, there were cardinal fans around our section. Probably the dumbest fans I've ever seen as they were vulgarly taunting braves fans. Can't believe the didn't get pummeled by angry drunk braves fans who outnumbered them 10000 to 1.
 
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After sleeping on it, I arrive in the same place I was when I first saw it - angry at the egotistical umpires. Even after watching the replays, the umpires think the call was correct. Any person unwilling to admit their mistakes should be removed from any position of authority. This crew should be fired, to a man, because they have all said that the call was correct. And Joe Torre is Joe Torre - he is a politician - he did what we all knew he would do.

Alot of people are expressing displeasure at the behavior of the fans at the game. I get that, but you can't have it both ways. You can't create the type of tension that a one game playoff produces, sell the tickets and the beer and expect those hyped up fans to sit on their hands when something like this happens. 100% of the blame for the fan's behavior belongs with MLB. This is what they wanted - this is what they got.

So MLB and the umpires getting everything wrong last night is the story, not the last game played by one of the sport's all time greats in Chipper Jones.
 
When the SS slowed down and started to set himself under the ball is when it became apparent that it was an infield fly. That is also when the umpire immediately called and signaled it was an infield fly. Completely correct call!
 
Simple, where did the ball land? Rule states infielder making a routine catch. Was it going to be spectacular over the head catch or routine?
 
It is definitely not simple and not what the rule is intended for and it was definitely, IMHO, NOT routine - the SS had to run to 228 feet away from home plate to make an ATTEMPTED play that he gave up on. Not routine. As I stated before, if technicalities count one can argue that the call is TECHNICALLY correct (i.e. in the judgement of the umpire blah blah blah).

I still have 5 major beefs with the call

a) the ball was WAY out in the outfield. 228 feet from home plate. That is NOT the infield. No other dropped ball called as an infield fly this season was more than about 175 feet from the plate.
b) the umpire did NOT signal immediately (as required by rule) that it was an infield fly. He waited until the SS tried to wave the OF off and the ball hits the ground a fraction of a second later. At that point neither player made a play.
c) there is no way a double play could have been made. Thus, the call violates the spirit of the intention of the rule protecting runners.
d) it wasn't routine. If it were routine, the SS wouldn't have had to run so hard to make the play. It's not routine in that you're in the 8th inning and 50K fans are screaming at you and you're looking into the lights. Not routine. You had to RUN hard to get to the OUTFIELD.
e) the left field umpire made the call. If it's an INFIELD fly, what is the OUTFIELD umpire doing making the call?????

Sure, the Braves had numerous chances they didn't take advantage of but having 3 on and 1 out instead of 2 on and 2 outs in the 8th with mccann up would have been huge. results may have still been the same, who knows, but at least another opportunity would have been there. They were able to pitch mccann & uggla differerently because of the 2 outs.
 
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Having umpired over 100 games (which really isn't that much, but gives me an edge on the average fan), that was not an infield fly. It is meant to protect the runners from getting doubled up, and making the call a quarter second before the ball hits the glove (or ground in this case) is not accomplishing that. Besides that, an outfield ump simply shouldn't be allowed to make that call, because a base runner cannot hear him verbally say "infield fly, if fair batters out". How can the base runner watch the ball and see the umpire make the signal? He can't. So the verbal call is of utmost importance, and can be heard if done in the infield. There's more to it, but like our resident Buckeye basically said, Joe Torre and the other umps will never admit their mistake. No umpire EVER throws another under the bus...especially at a press conference.

And don't get me started on the team with the 4th best record in the Majors getting rewarded with a 1 game wild card playoff. Play 162 games and it all comes down to 1. At least make it best 2 out of 3.
 
Torre and the MLB say the play could not be protested because it was a "judgement call." Aren't most outs "judgement" calls? "Did the first basemen catch the ball prior to the runner's foot touching the base?" That's a judgement call IMO. Guess it can't be protested.
 
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