And so the Kevin Love free agency begins: While We’re Waiting
June 30, 2015Cavs reportedly interested in Mike Dunleavy
June 30, 2015Sometimes, the umpire gets the rule completely and blatantly wrong. It happens. Everyone on the field is human and prone to mistakes including those umpires who generally do a much better job than the credit they receive for it. Thankfully, a rather egregious umpire ruling in the first inning did not affect the final outcome of the Cleveland Indians win over the Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 7-1 on Monday.
However, simple human error should not preclude us from pointing out an error that goes against the intent of the rules or else we are prone to also repeat those errors.
The play
In the first inning, after Jason Kipnis roped a double off Nathan Karns, Francisco Lindor put down a beautiful bunt down the third base line. Lindor ran full throttle towards first base in the dirt just inside the chalk line. At no point did Lindor touch the grass outside the baseline. Karns fielded the ball and made a hurried throw to Marc Krauss at first. The throw was offline. In fact, the throw was so offline that Krauss had to stretch his glove into foul territory in an attempt to snare the ball and his glove smacked into a running Lindor when he made this attempt. The ball went into the right field foul territory, Kipnis scored, and Lindor took second base.
The ruling
Home plate umpire Doug Eddings ruled that Francisco Lindor impeded the throw at first base and he was called out due to runner interference. On runner interference, no other player may advance as a result of that interference, so Jason Kipnis was sent back to third base. There was now a runner on third base with one out rather than a runner on second base with no outs and a run scored.
The actual rule 1
7.08
Any runner is out when —
(a) (1) He runs more than three feet away from his baseline to avoid being tagged unless his action is to avoid interference with a fielder fielding a batted ball. A runners baseline is established when the tag attempt occurs and is a straight line from the runner to the base he is attempting to reach safely;
(b) He intentionally interferes with a thrown ball; or hinders a fielder attempting to make a play on a batted ball;7.09
It is interference by a batter or a runner when —
(i) He fails to avoid a fielder who is attempting to field a batted ball, or intentionally interferes with a thrown ball, provided that if two or more fielders attempt to field a batted ball, and the runner comes in contact with one or more of them, the umpire shall determine which fielder is entitled to the benefit of this rule, and shall not declare the runner out for coming in contact with a fielder other than the one the umpire determines to be entitled to field such a ball;
What should have happened
Francisco Lindor stayed on the baseline. Yes, he was on the inside of the basepath, but he was well within the three feet of the chalk. The dirt is there for a reason in that the runner is allowed that alley to run towards his base. Since the play was a throw and not on the batted ball itself, the umpire must find just cause to prove that Lindor intentionally impeded the fielder from making the play. With Lindor’s back turned and the throw not directly towards the intended target, I have a difficult time justifying any reasoning toward this end.
Play should have been allowed to continue, Lindor should have been safe at second base, and Kipnis should have scored a run with an error likely on Nathan Karns for the throw.
Key Moments of the Game
Cody Anderson chases perfection (for awhile):
When fans were hoping for the Indians to pull a prospect out of the farm system to help the team win more games, I doubt many thought that player would be a pitcher. And, I highly doubt that any fan could have predicted that Cody Anderson would pitch 14 innings of shutout baseball to begin his MLB career. Anderson has undoubtedly been a blessing as he has dominated the Rays in both of his starts.
This game was marked by Anderson obtaining the first 19 outs before a hit. He did so with a sinking fastball that led to ground balls and easy pop flies when the batter tried to force the ball into the air. One of the trademarks of any good worm-burner is to field the position well. Anderson also did on this night handling comebackers with ease (such as Evan Longoria’s in the first inning) and rushing over to first base anytime Santana was pulled away from the bag. Perhaps, Anderson can spend some time tutoring Danny Salazar, Zach McAllister, and Marc Rzepczynski on the art of pitcher fielding.
Of course, former Indian great Grady Sizemore ruined the march towards perfection in the seventh inning when he drilled a line drive home run that had just enough trajectory to clear the fence. Evan Longoria even followed up the home run with a single of his own to end any thoughts of a 1-hit bid as well.
In the end, Cody Anderson pitched eight innings. He induced four infield fly ball outs (two of which were foul), nine ground ball outs, five lazy fly balls to the outfield and struck out two batters, while walking none. That just left four hard contact line drive outs to go along with the two aforementioned hits.
Offensive Struggles Continue:
“That game could have been 5-0 in multiple innings,” Cash said. ” It actually felt like we were down by much more than two throughout the course of that game.”
The final inning helped alleviate the frustration that was continuing from this season with RISP, but those frustrations continued. The Indians finished the game 3-for-15 with RISP and left nine runners stranded on the night.
There were fly outs, ground outs, strike outs, and double plays. Anything that could help the Rays get out of the inning, but only after putting runners on base. Seven different batters had hits for the Indians and eight reached base (David Murphy went 0-for-2 with a walk). It is almost impossible for a team to be as good as the Indians are at reaching base, but as bad as they are at scoring runs. It’s almost as if they needed some implausible positive things to happen to balance things out.
Jason Kipnis, Yan Gomes, and the implausible 9th inning:
Jason Kipnis is in the conversation for the best hitter in MLB this season. Bryce Harper, Miguel Cabrera, Paul Goldschmidt, and Jason Kipnis are the best four hitters in MLB in 2015 and one could argue almost any order for them. The fact that Kipnis is in this group despite a mere .162 ISO (Isolated Power) is incredible.
On Monday, Kipnis provided most of the offense in the early innings. He doubled to lead off the game and scored on a Michael Brantley single (after the erroneously called interference on Lindor). Kipnis drove in Yan Gomes after he hit a double in the second inning. If Kipnis wasn’t providing the offense, then it was Yan Gomes who hit that double to score the second run before upping the ante with a home run in the eighth inning. A healthy Gomes is a dangerous power hitter. He had seemingly just gotten back to health in early June before a neck injury derailed him. Hopefully, Monday was a sign that Gomes is healthy again.
The ninth inning was an odd affair as the Indians scored four runs to lock down the win. Kipnis reached on an infield single to second, followed by Lindor roping a double into right field. Then, Ronald Belisario was to intentionally walk Michael Brantley, but he threw a pitch over the head of catcher Rene Rivera and Kipnis scored2 . After a Ryan Raburn hit (scoring Lindor), Carlos Santana walk, and Brandon Moss fielder’s choice (scoring Brantley), Belisario was at it again as another wild pitch scored Raburn3 .
Key Moment Scorecard:
Tampa Bay Rays: 1
Cleveland Indians: 2
Old Friends; Help or Haunt
Grady Sizemore: He only had one hit, but it was a home run that broke up a perfect game. HAUNT
Asdrubal Cabrera: He used his trademark statuesque range to allow some ground balls go for hits, while going 0-for-3 at the plate. HELP
The Nine
Jason Kipnis: Kipnis reached base four times, was 1-for-1 with RISP, and made a fantastic double play in the ninth inning. Just a standard day in the life of Jason Kipnis.
Francisco Lindor: Lindor had a rough day at the plate. After the interference call, he had an 11 pitch at bat end in a strikeout, grounded into a double play, and struck out again. His double in the ninth inning could not have come at a better time for him.
Michael Brantley: Continued his calm presence at the plate obtaining hits in his first three at bats. He bobbled the ball in the seventh, which was ruled an error, but he made a couple nice plays, which included covering for Michael Bourn in the ninth inning. And, he added the rare stolen base as well (including looking back at the catcher for nearly the entire run).
David Murphy / Ryan Raburn: Murphy reached base with a walk before Raburn came in and delivered a single. The Murburn duo continues to be a reliable offensive weapon for the team.
Carlos Santana: Until he rediscovers his power stroke, he is going to be a source of frustration. He is still somewhat valuable, but he probably should be swapped back with Lindor to make the most of his OBP.
Brandon Moss: 0-for-4 with RISP on the night. He ended two of the innings and even his RBI was tainted by the stain of the fact he grounded out into a fielder’s choice to obtain it.
Yan Gomes: Well, he was 0-for-2 with RISP. But, he had a double and a home run on the night as well. Hopefully, that power is back as it would be a huge boost to the lineup.
Giovanny Urshela: Showed off his arm strength on a David DeJesus ground ball when he was playing deep in the seventh inning. Other than that play, a quiet night for Urshela as he took care of business in the field and continued to struggle a bit at the plate (1-for-4 with two strikeouts).
Michael Bourn: The Rivera fly ball in the ninth inning would have been so much worse had Cody Anderson still been chasing history. However, it is still a terrible sign when your supposedly defensive-minded center fielder changes from looking over his left shoulder to his right, back to his left shoulder, then ducks and covers his head while the ball drops to the turf. Just a year and a half left on his contract assuming that the Indians do not let him get anywhere near that vesting option.
The Arms
Cody Anderson:
Pitching line over 2 MLB starts: 15.2IP, 8 hits, 6 strikeouts, 1 walk, 1 run (earned), 0.57 ERA
Bryan Shaw: He did not look sharp as he allowed loud contact to his first two batters. Rene Rivera hit the ball over Michael Bourn’s head, but Kipnis and Lindor helped utilize the Kevin Kiermaier line drive to create a double play before Shaw struck out Sizemore to end the game.
- Note: removing the clauses that do not effect this particular play. The full rule can be seen through the link. [↩]
- Remember, it was not that long ago that Michael Brantley had an intentional walk pitch to him thrown directly over the plate that confused the umpire enough for him to call a ball anyway. [↩]
- In fairness, Rivera merely stabbed at an outside pitch with his glove and really should have made an effort to get in front of it with his body. [↩]
15 Comments
My folks are family friends with Krauss, he went to Patrick Henry near Toledo. I’ve got my mom on the case to give him a razz for the interference call. She’s a prolific, and horrific, texter. Maybe I can get you some good copy.
I was heated when I saw that replay. Is that call not reviewable either? Anderson looked good. Sizemore went 3-5, didn’t catch the game so don’t know how he played in the game though.
Interference is at the discretion of the umpire and is hence unreviewable (for now). I was somewhat surprised that Francona did not get tossed as he was expressing his displeasure with the call rather liberally it seemed.
I would love it. Please email the tips line and we can take it from there.
Mea Culpa, 1-4. I looked on baseball reference before checking box score and i said he was 3-5 this season with TB. I thought this was first game.
Sizemore played for Philly for a short while and started a few games…which tells you about how bad the Phillies are this year. I liked Grady when he was an Indian. It sucks that his body broke down so early.
b-ref did not get updated last night for some reason. So, Sizemore is actually 4-for-9 on the season with the Rays. He played on Sunday and raked in those three hits to get things started.
3-5 his first game, day before
I am enjoying Urshela. His defense is awesome, and even his outs when batting look promising.
Yeah unfornate for him (AND US). Interestin that he is DHing on a team that is 6 games over .500
Welcome to the fifth starter role Cody Anderson! Now can you hit?
Oh boy, MLB rules. I think this might be more specific to what happened with Lindor: Rule 6.05 … A batter is out when … (k) In running the last half of the distance from home base to first base, while the ball is being fielded to first base, he runs outside (to the right of) the three-foot line, or inside (to the left of) the foul line, and in the umpire’s judgment in so doing interferes with the fielder taking the throw at first base, in which case the ball is dead; except that he may run outside (to the right of) the three-foot line or inside (to the left of) the foul line to avoid a fielder attempting to field a batted ball;
So according to 6.05 (k) the ump doesn’t need to find intentional interference with the fielder taking a throw, he just needs to be able to say that Lindor interfered by being to the left of the foul line. In other words that the fielder (in the ump’s judgment) would have been able to catch the throw had Lindor been in that lane to the right of the foul line.
Karns’ throw was way off line, as I recall, and maybe the fielder wouldn’t have been able to catch it anyway, but Lindor made himself culpable by running left of foul line. And btw, this came up a few times when Sandy Alomar was the Indians’ catcher. Those runners seemed bother Alomar into a few bad throws.
Now if you want to discuss the strike zone …
Fantastic find on that rule. I had thought there was more, but did not find it earlier.
I stand by my viewpoint though. Even with Lindor on the outside of the chalk, the Krauss would have had to have his glove circumvent Lindor’s body. In fact, the angle of the throw from the 3rd base line is such that the lateral difference should not matter here.
I actually wonder what should happen for this rule if a catcher grabs it up the first base line. If a catcher throws it directly into the back of the runner on purpose, then it is the umpire’s discretion call (assuming that the catcher did not have an immediate angle to just make the play). That seems to be what this rule suggests and indicates.
The runner really has no way of knowing where the ball is so it’s a tough call there (unless the 1B moves in a way to tip off the runner and he moves with him).
Excellent point about that circumstance because I’ve seen it happen. Pierzynski I think. A catcher doesn’t try very hard to avoid hitting the runner (or throws at him). That’s why, to avoid making it easier for the ump to call interference, the runner should stay in the right lane. Hug the foul line but don’t run left of it. So glad that didn’t decide the game yesterday.
not surprised at all that it was that particular catcher (if it was).
interestingly though, I have seen many instances where the catcher momentum carries him into foul territory (ball hit down 1st base line). catcher throws right to get to the first baseman. Yan actually is one catcher that tends to use the right lane for his throws there.
and love the rules conversation. so many corner cases within the MLB rules to dissect.