Rare intentionally dropped ball call

[David Emerling]

Game #2 of 2009 NLCS - Phillies vs Dodgers (actual play)

R1, less than 2 outs. Bunt situation. Batter pops up bunt toward the first baseline. F3 seemingly catches the ball in the air and then lets it drop in fair territory. R1, thinking the ball would be caught, returns to 1st. F3 throws ball to F4, who is covering 1st on the bunt, who first steps on the base then tags R1.

The umpires astutely invoke Rule 6.05(L) and call the batter out on an "intentionally dropped" ball. Clearly, the defense was trying to get a tricky double play.

Here's the PLAY.

The accompanying article states:

Loney (F3) threw to Ronnie Belliard (F4), who was covering first base and stepped on the bag before tagging Ruiz (R1). Martinez (batter) was ruled out on the play and Ruiz continued to occupy first base, causing Dodgers manager Joe Torre to come out in search of an explanation.

Apparently Joe Torre thought there should be two outs. But it seems to me that the Dodgers' attempt at trickery was improperly executed even if the umpires had not invoked the "intentionally dropped" rule. Belliard (F4) performed the outs in the wrong order. The moment he stepped on the bag - that removed the force out - which negated the tag of R1. He needed to first tag R1 then tag the base.

So, actually the entire ruling and discussion was rendered moot by the faulty execution of the play by the defense.

David Emerling
Memphis, TN