What You Need to Know: The Year Of The Botched Infield Fly

The Monday Takeaway
We’re but a week and change into the 2016 campaign, and already, the Phillies have had a season’s worth of misadventures with the infield-fly rule. Last Friday, Cesar Hernandez seemed to forget what the rule means all together:

Yesterday, with the bases loaded, nobody out, and the Phillies trailing the Padres 3-2 in the sixth, pinch-hitter Darin Ruf lofted a pop fly into shallow left. As Alexei Ramirez backpedaled toward the ball, third-base umpire Will Little invoked the infield-fly rule. Consequently, Ruf was out, and the runners could advance at their own risk.

Trouble is, Little’s call was late and less than emphatic:

via GIPHY

Indeed, it was so subdued that both the runner on second, Odubel Herrera, and the Padres third baseman, Alexi Amarista, were left unsure of what to do when Ramirez lost track of the ball and watched it land several feet behind him. A bit of chaos ensued:

Hernandez, running from third, scored on the ever-so-rare sacrifice infield fly, called by Little as he watched Ramirez retreat as though the ball was well within his range. Little—clearly (on the GIF above) watching the fielder, not the ball—was content that the play could be made with ordinary effort by the infielder, the salient criterion in determining whether or not the infield-fly rule should be enforced. You could see, watching Ramirez and not the flight of the ball, why Little might’ve thought that, because while Ramirez wasn’t camped under the popup, he did appear to be backtracking to a landing spot nearby. As it turned out, Little was wrong, but the uncertainty on the play was as much the result of the of the low-key manner in which the umpire, by then standing well behind the infield, made the call, as it was of the error in judgment in the first place.

Phillies manager Pete Mackanin had no hope of getting the infield-fly call changed, but he challenged the play in hopes that Amarista did not tag Herrera before Herrera reached the bag. Amarista did get the tag on in time, however, and so the Phillies had a man on second with two away instead of two on and nobody out. The game was tied, but they’d score no more. The Padres went ahead on a safety squeeze by Amarista in the top of the seventh and held on to win, 4-3.

After the game, crew chief Ted Barrett defended the rationale behind Little’s call, explaining that the depth of the fly is irrelevant. Mackanin’s beef, though, was with the judgment that Ramirez could’ve made the play with ordinary effort. It might’ve been a can of corn for left fielder Wil Myers, who never saw Ruf’s batted ball and stayed planted in deep left, but it was anything but for Ramirez, notwithstanding his seemingly nonchalant route.

With no further recourse, the Phillies had to hit their way to victory, and that, they could not do. They’ve now lost five straight home openers at Citizens Bank Park.

Quick Hits from Monday
The tide can turn quickly in baseball. One minute, you’re throwing a no-hitter. The next, you’re not. And a few rounds of the second hand after that, you’re left wondering what it was all for.

Brandon Finnegan was outstanding for six innings Monday, locking down the loaded Cubs lineup. Meanwhile, Billy Hamilton launched a homer off Jon Lester:

via GIPHY

Everything was coming up Reds.

But then, the 100-pitch mark came and went, Finnegan began leaking oil,

and manager Bryan Price was, apparently, unprepared. Fastballs that hit 94 with regularity earlier in the contest were now more often coming in at 92, and Finnegan’s control waned with fatigue, as well. David Ross broke up the no-no with a single with two down in the seventh, but that wasn’t all for Finnegan. Price allowed him to face the next batter, Matt Szczur, who walked on Finnegan’s 111^th pitch to bring the tying run to the plate in the then 3-0 affair.

Dexter Fowler, representing the equalizer, also walked, on reliever Caleb Cotham’s watch, and then Jason Heyward singled off Tony Cingrani, and suddenly it was 3-2. The top of the eighth went swiftly, and Cingrani resumed work in the last of the eighth with nary a clue where the ball was going. A walk, wild pitch, and hit batsman led Price to summon Jumbo Diaz, who knew precisely where this ball was going off the bat of Addison Russell as soon as it was hit:

And just like that, it was 5-3 Cubs. The young shortstop appeased the Wrigley Field crowd with a curtain call, closer Hector Rondon struck out the side to slam the door, and the Reds had gone from no-hitter watch to defeat in the blink of an eye.

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If you think the Reds bullpen caught a bad case of the Mondays last night, somewhere up in Boston, Dave Dombrowski and the front office had it much worse. The stars were aligned for a thrilling home opener, with new ace David Price—to whom Dombrowski guaranteed $217 million—on the hill and new closer Craig Kimbrel—for whom Dombrowski shipped off a bushel of top prospects—waiting to secure the win. Unfortunately for the Fenway faithful, the undefeated Orioles had other ideas.

The Red Sox scored thrice in the first inning, but the Birds would crash the party soon enough. Dan Duquette saw Dombrowski’s $217 million free agent and raised him a bargain-bin trade addition, the lefty-mashing Mark Trumbo, whose three-run blast

via GIPHY

made it 5-3 O’s. Two-and-a-third innings into his Red Sox home debut, Price had already allowed more runs than he had in any of his 11 regular-season trips to the Fenway mound as a visitor. Fortunately for the Red Sox, he’d permit no more. But the ninth inning began with the score knotted 6-6.

With that, it was Kimbrel time, but just after “Welcome to the Jungle” blared through the speakers, the former Brave and Padre came unglued. Two walks set the stage for Chris Davis, who was already enjoying a splendid day at first base, complete with The Defensive Play of the Day:

And four innings after finishing what Manny Machado started in the field, Davis followed his third baseman’s walk with a three-run no-doubter:

That 449-foot bomb made it 9-6 Orioles. Mookie Betts homered off O’s closer Zach Britton in the last of the ninth, and the Red Sox brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the person of David Ortiz, but Britton recovered to boost the Birds to their best-ever start in Baltimore at 6-0.

As for the Red Sox, well, on the afternoon of their home opener, all $217 million and the Kimbrel bounty bought Dave Dombrowski was—you guessed it—a case of the Mondays.

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Finally, up in Milwaukee, Taylor Jungmann endured his own brutal start to the workweek. A few extra-base hits won’t hurt you if they’re well balanced with plenty of outs, but as Jungmann learned, allowing seven of the former while recording six of the latter is no way to go through life.

Jungmann’s pitch chart, above, shows a whole lot of fastballs in the middle and not much of anything on the corners, and the Cardinals said “thank you very much” for the extra batting practice. The Redbirds, collectively, whiffed just once on the right-hander’s 38 fastballs, and they tattooed a half-dozen of them for two or three bags apiece. Per the Baseball-Reference Play Index, by the time Craig Counsell came to his rescue, Jungmann had become just the fifth pitcher since 1913 to end up with more extra-base hits permitted than outs recorded while completing at least two frames. He’s the first to do so without serving up a home run.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Hazelbaker introduced himself to the Busch Stadium crowd with four hits, including a double and triple, leading the 19-hit assault that continued long after Jungmann hit the showers. The Cardinals, who also enjoyed six strong innings from Michael Wacha, rolled over the Brew Crew 10-1.

What to Watch on Tuesday

If you like high-octane stuff, you’d be hard-pressed to find a sweeter treat than a matchup between Jose Fernandez and Noah Syndergaard. That’s precisely what those in attendance at Citi Field will enjoy this evening, as the flame-throwing right-handers square off in the second game of a three-game set.

Fernandez was touched up for five runs in 5 2/3 innings in his 2015 debut, but his stuff was intact. The 23-year-old averaged 96 with his fastball,

about where he sat pre-Tommy John surgery, and racked up 13 strikeouts by mixing the heater with his typically hellacious curve.

As for Syndergaard, well, he’s better than ever, newly equipped with a slider that can flirt with 95 mph, if you trust the ballpark gun:

Noah Syndergaard's 95 MPH Slider + The Nastiest Pitching GIFs From Yesterday's Games – https://t.co/1SjZpkWcey pic.twitter.com/VWwojpRmtf

— Pitcher List (@ThePitcherList) April 6, 2016

Grab your favorite beverage, kick back, and enjoy. If the rain stays away, this one has all the makings of the duel of the night (7:10 p.m. ET).

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And if the tarp stays firmly planted on the Citi Field dirt, rest assured that it won’t be raining inside the Trop, where the Indians and Rays will return to action after sitting idle on Monday. Tampa fans have to be pleased with the early performance of outfielder Steven Souza Jr., who’s clubbed three homers and a double through 21 at-bats. Souza is something of an odd cat when it comes to pitch-type preferences from fellow righties:

The 26-year-old’s been a poor fastball hitter to this point in his career, but sliders? Souza hasn’t found many of those that he couldn't crush. He’ll run into a great one this evening, though, from Indians starter Corey Kluber. Right-handed batters are just 29-for-275—a .106 average and .193 slugging percentage—against Kluber’s breaker with 157 strikeouts in at-bats terminating with the pitch. Tune in for Kluber’s duel with Matt Moore to see if Souza will finally find a slider he can’t touch (7:10 p.m. ET).

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Trevor Story did not hit a home run on Monday, but, it turns out, that’s mostly because the Rockies took the day off. They’re back in action today, however, and that means the rookie shortstop gets to continue his assault on the round-tripper record books against Jeff Samardzija and the Giants. Story boasts a major-league-high seven taters in six games—the most anyone’s ever had in the first half-dozen contents of a season, in fact—and he’s got three more games left on this homestand before the Rox head to Chicago. Story will go to bat in support of Tyler Chatwood, who held the D’backs to one earned run in 6 1/3 innings in his first major-league start since 2014 (8:40 p.m. ET).