Bad Calls Are Not Limited To One Sport

The Wild Card game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves last night featured a call that, once again, could have gone either way. I have never really understood the Infield Fly Rule anyway because that is all dependant on whether the fielder catches the ball or not. The fielding team is basically given an out free of charge. The ball fell in between the two St. Louis fielders with Braves runners on first and second. The ball was far enough in the outfield to where the Infield Fly Rule probably should have not been called. It is also supposed to be called early on in the play. The umpire clearly had his hand up signifying an out as the St. Louis Shortstop is backing up on the play. The ball fell to the ground and the Braves runners advanced to second and third but they now had two outs rather than bases loaded and one out. It was the bottom of the eighth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals were leading 6-3. Lost in the outrage over the call was the fact that the Braves were having a bad game. The call was not the deciding factor in the game. The Braves had made three throwing errors leading to four unearned runs for the Cardinals. Braves Shortstop Andrelton Simmons was called out on runners interference going to first base on a bunt attempt. The Braves had their chances but did not come thru in the clutch. That one blown call did not decide the outcome of this game. That pretty well summarizes the Braves playoff history with the exception of one year in 1995. It is a sad end to the career of Chipper Jones, but his career has spanned the Braves playoff failures.