[greymule]

Your analysis is pretty much what I thought, DG. However, I was unsure about play number 1. Because no play had been made yet, I didn't know whether we (1) wait to see where F5 goes with the ball before we call anything, or (2) assume that some sort of play on Baker has come into being. That's why I wondered how we rule if F5 starts to play on Baker and then throws to another base. Does starting to play on Baker constitute an actual play on Baker and thus kill the ball?

I guess that if F5 plays on Baker, we call dead ball, and if F5 plays somewhere else, we assign penalties (if any) when action has stopped. But if, let's say, F5 throws home for one out and then F2 throws to 1B for another out, if Baker makes it to 3B, we let the play stand.

But the play Rich describes is puzzling. Rick Roder says that, because R1 would be out by a mile, the fact that he was being played on doesn't figure in our ruling. Following that logic, we would call Abel out in play number 2.