Braves Game Controversy

Ok so obviously the sports world has been non-stop buzzing about the call that was made last night during the Braves and Cardinals game, and I just thought I'd give my take on it.

First of all for those of you who don't really know, this has basically been put in the rules of the game in order to prevent infielders from intentionally dropping the ball and turning a double play. However, the entire ruling is based solely on the umpire's judgement, with the ruling exactly stating that "the play is the umpire's judgment, and that the ball is catchable by an infielder with ordinary effort." Obviously this presents a very large gray area, especially with this particular play.

Breaking it down from the beginning, if you watch the infielder tracks backwards, and is clearly calling off the outfielder, saying that he's got it. Right there I tend to side with the ruling on the field and see it as an infield fly. However, I mentioned earlier there is a large gray area with this, and with the latter part of the written rule is where this play gets messy. 

First of all, and most importantly, I have to point out again the point of this rule is to prevent the cheap double play. In my mind, there is no way that you can intentionally let this one fall and get a double play out of it at all, meaning the rule is pointless in this instance. You are basically just giving the defense a free out. The second problem I have with this play is the "ordinary effort" part of the rule. I'm not really sure if you can categorize this as ordinary effort. Not to say that it seemed the shortstop was straining himself or even remotely struggling to get there, but just that this seems like a more routine play for the left fielder than anything. This leads me to think that this was a bad call. 

Could this call have changed the course of the game, and possibly the overall outcome? Probably, but it's unfair for people to complain about this too much, because the Braves had their chances and they didn't deliver. Also, the fact that the Braves protested this game, before it was even over, is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. This game was by far the biggest of the season for the Braves, win or go home. Putting that kind of distraction in the environment for your players mid-game had to have been a killer for their morale. They probably ended up getting more caught up on the "what could have been" as opposed to focusing, and getting the big hit later when they needed it. Bad call, but just as bad of a job managing. Whatever the case it doesn't really matter to me, I just thought I'd way weigh in. Go Yankees.

P.S. Major, major conspiracy theory. Was this possibly a make up call for the blown call in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series? 27 years later the MLB is trying to make up for screwing the Cardinals out of the World Series victory, and does it by giving them this one here? Selig is only a phone call away. Think about it.