Infield fly not called

[PeteBooth]

Based on what I saw of the play in question, I would have called the infield fly. (To be fair, I didn't see a previousl paly in which a "routine" pop up in the infied was not caught -- that might have changed my judgment on the play in question.)

[/QUOTE]

Bob, Jimmy Rollins drop of a routine fly ball "set the stage" for the umpires NOT to invoke the IFR.

Rollins had all kinds of trouble trying to field what would have been a "can of corn" under normal conditions.

Therefore, on the play in question, the IFR was NOT invoked because the condtions had gotten so bad that a normal fly ball was now judged differently.

The interesting question would have been

Suppose the ball was dropped and the defense went on to complete the DP.

Since the umpire judged that the ball could not be caught with ordinary effort, no IFR to invoke and the call would most likely stand. However, the umpires put a run on the Board some 3 innings later in the O's Indians game a couple of years back so anything is possible.

Pete Booth