Cardinals top Braves 6-3 in chaotic Wild-Card game

Not so long ago, an umpire cited the Infield Fly Rule in an important baseball game.

Now, let’s be honest: A significant percentage of “baseball fans” don’t know what the Infield Fly Rule is, or why it exists. But of course you’re not most baseball fans; I will guess that every one of you has at least a passing familiarity with the Infield Fly Rule, and I’ll bet that some of you thought you had it cold.

Before we can get to Infield Fly Rule: the Mini-Series Event, we have to get to the diagram. Luckily, Justin Bopp is on the case:

And if you’re a trolling Cardinals fan, you can get a poster version of this. I have two of Bopp’s posters hanging in my office, and they’d be great conversation starters if anyone else ever went into my office.

In 1947 the “alternate” umpire from each league, who had been seated in the stands from 1940 to 1946, was stationed along the foul line in the outfield thus establishing the now-familiar six-member Series staff.The six-man staff, of course, was later expanded to all postseason games; from 1947-63, though, the “alternate” umpires remained in the outfield, not taking part of the usual umpire rotation. Sometimes they kept their left-field or right-field slot for the entire Series; sometimes they swapped positions. In examining World Series boxscores from those years, there didn’t seem to be any systematic way in which this was done, probably because those positions were seen as an afterthought. In 1964, though, these extra umps were made part of the rotation, and that has continued to this day.

The first relevant question is “Why was this done in the first place and why is it done now?” The answer to the first part of that question is lost to the mists of time; it seems likely someone thought, “We’re paying these guys to come to the World Series, let’s give them something to do.” And after 17 years, they decided to institutionalize it and make the “alternates” an official part of the crew.

You know it’s an interesting game when Baseball Reference has to include weird symbols next to the ordinary game log. And for the 1986 Pirates and Cardinals, you’ll see one of these:

&XGood ol’ ampersand-x. That’s because this game was played under protest and the protest was upheld; the two teams finished the game two days later.

You don’t have to believe me. You don’t have to believe Harold Reynolds, either. But you have to admit that the guy has seen a whole lot of baseball, and been involved in a whole lot of Infield Fly calls.

If you’re not convinced by Reynolds -- who gets a lot of help from MLB Network’s video crew -- then it’s possible that you simply can’t be convinced.

Before we get into the weeds, let us first internalize the actual rule in question:

Now, before we get to the heart of the thing, let me clear up a couple of things.

It should have, except the left-field umpire, Sam Holbrook, stationed in the outfield, called the infield-fly rule. Here’s where the ball landed, and here’s where Holbrook was:

More egregious than the position of Holbrook and the ball: the late timing of the call. The umpire needs to call it immediately in that situation. Holbrook did not. Simmons was automatically out, and the runners advanced to second and third. Braves fans were not pleased:

We just saw history, friends.

Those of us watching the inaugural National Wild Card game just saw the deepest infield-fly call in the history of Major League Baseball. We also saw the edges of the playing surface covered with a blanket of debris, thanks to thousands of outraged hometown fans.

Chipper Jones might be feeling just a little better, after this game, about his decision to retire.

In the fourth inning, his throwing error led directly to the Cardinals’ three-run inning. And in the bottom of the seventh, he came to the plate with two runners on base and two outs, and did this:

Welp. This is how this game is going for the Braves.

YOU SEE THAT, YOU DOLTS? THIS IS WHAT I THINK ABOUT YOUR FIELDING IN THIS PARTICULAR CONTEST.

... that Freese wound up on second base, and moved to third a moment later on a sacrifice bunt. That, finally, got Medlen out of the game after 92 pitches. He gave up only three hits and zero walks, with two of those four runs unearned thanks to Chipper Jones’ third-inning throwing error.

Matt Holliday was an MVP candidate at one point this season, as he was hitting .320/.404/.543 with 19 home runs at the trade deadline. Since the deadline: .252/.336/.417 with eight homers in 218 at-bats. So that should make Kris Medlen feel better.

Or not. Holliday took a 1-2 pitch deep, and it wasn’t exactly an easy pitch to hit. Medlen threw a fastball right on the inside corner, but Holliday caught up with it and had enough bat speed to drive it to left, easily keeping it fair.

It was all for naught, though, because the umpires correctly ruled that Simmons had run inside the baseline:

He was out, with Freeman rooted on third and Ross landing on second base. And the rally ended when Lohse struck out

The St. Louis Cardinals played about 500 hours of baseball this year, give or take. So it was more than a little frustrating to think the whole thing could be decided by an umpire’s split-second decision to grant time to David Ross.

With two strikes and Ross at the plate, umpire Jeff Kellogg called time. Ross swung through the pitch:

We didn’t have to wait long for some superb drama in the National League Wild Card Game.

In the top of the first inning, Braves starter Kris Medlen -- so brilliant since joining the rotation in August -- struck out the first two Cardinals he faced, plunked Matt Holliday, and retired Allen Craig on a ground-out. Kyle Lohse pitched just as impressively in the bottom of the first.

This is not that universe. In this one, Heyward is a good player. Maybe, considering his defense and baserunning, close to a great player. But he’s not threatening for a Triple Crown, and he’s not a perennial MVP candidate, which a lot of people assumed he would be soon after his amazing rookie season. The only way to consider Heyward a disappointment is if you’re a) impatient or b) you ignore that he just turned 23.

That doesn’t mean you can’t look at some of his numbers and wonder where the 2010 Heyward went:

Here they are. The Baseball Nation predictions.

All of these predictions were arrived at after hours of study and meditation, with careful analysis going into each pick. They certainly weren’t something that everyone spit out after five seconds of thinking in response to a “Hey, wait, we need to get some predictions up” e-mail.

The Cardinals have elected to put 10 pitchers on their roster, while the Braves have gone with nine. Each team has one back-up starting pitcher in case of injury or if things get out of hand early, but the rest of the pitching spots are taken up by bullpen arms.

What’s even more amazing is that Medlen has amassed the bulk of his achievements this year in the season’s second half: He has a 0.97 ERA in 12 starts since late July. He faced the Cardinals three times this year, with a 4.76 ERA in 5⅔ innings.

The 34-year-old veteran has a 16-3 record, a 2.86 ERA with 143 strikeouts, a .842 winning percentage (best in the Majors), with 211 innings tossed. His consistency throughout the year made him the obvious choice for manager Mike Matheny.

When our descendants look up the official National League pitching leaders for the 2012 season, the name Kris Medlen won’t show up anywhere. That’s because of one serious elbow injury and 24 innings.

You can’t qualify as an official leader in any of the “percentage” categories unless you finish the season with 162 innings pitched, and Medlen’s going to finish the 2012 regular season with only 138 innings. If 138 innings was the cutoff, though? Kris Medlen would lead the National League in winning percentage (.909), home runs allowed per nine innings (0.4) and ERA (1.57!). He would also rank second in strikeout-to-walk ratio.