The Cardinals and the Reds ended their game last night in crazy fashion, leaving fans and commentators scratching their heads and all talking over each other to explain what just happened.
With the game just having been tied by the Reds in the bottom of the 9th in sad fashion, the Cards had a runner on first with two outs and Yadi at bat. Yadi hits the ball hard into left field, it hits the ground and bounces up onto the outfield wall and back into the glove of the left fielder. He then quickly turns and throws the ball hard toward home plate where STL Carpenter was sliding across the plate. The fans and Cardinal players are screaming with joy when all of a sudden the announcers start talking about that being a ground rule double and Carpenter should be back on third.
But, the umpires have left the field while Reds players stand around thinking the game should not be over. Where are the umpires so the play can be challenged.
I watched this and my first impression was a ground rule double usually means the ball hits the ground and bounces into the stands, not hits the wall and flips back onto the field. But, not so. And this is where things get confusing. It turns out Busch Stadium and probably all other big league parks, have their own specific rule on what makes a ground ruled double. At Busch:
"Batted ball in flight striking the top of the wall above the padding and rebounding onto playing field: In Play."
Added to last night's confusion was Major League Baseball rule on this which states a team "At the end of the inning, teams have 10 seconds to alert the umpire that they intend to review the play and a challenge must be made within 30 seconds of the final out call. At end of the game — and this is important — it is Major League Baseball's view that the team must make it clear "immediately" that it intends to consider a challenge."
Wow. Ten seconds during pandemonium. Ten seconds isn't much time when the crowd is screaming, players are all yelling in the managers ear about the play, and the manager himself is trying to quickly replay the play in his mind.
But anyway, this morning the Reds are considering taking this to the league for a final ruling. The Giants are just as frustrated because they and the Cardinals are in a race for the last playoff spot.
Baseball! It does seem like the Cards are never going to make up being one game behind the Giants, when one of them loses so does the other. When one wins, so does the other.
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