Batted Ball Hits Umpire
 

Did anybody catch the Detroit @ Cleveland game today? I was watching highlights and there was one play that seemed kind of odd. There was a runner on first, Sheffield was batting and he hits a liner towards 2nd Base. The pitcher had no play on it. The 2B Umpire, Larry Vanover was in B and the ball nailed him right on the shin.

The umpires didn't kill the play and let it play out. I was kind of surprised they didn't kill it. Did they just miss the call or was there some other circumstance that I'm overlooking?

The video can be viewed here:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mediacenter/index.jsp#20070603

Click the 400 K link under the column "Video Top Plays". The play is called "Sheffield singles off the umpire."

Textbook umpire interference. Many thanks to my friend Rick Manning (the TV color man) for screwing up the rule.

This play ended a second or two after the interference. If anything else had happened, I'm sure that they would have killed it -- and for all we know one of the other umpires killed it off camera.

Someone should email Rick Manning with the rule.