ATLANTA — This is where you cue all of the jokes about NFL replacement referees and wonder how they made their way onto a major league baseball playoff diamond.
Because it was an outrageous eighth inning infield fly rule call made by third-base umpire Jeff Nelson on an Andrelton Singleton pop to shallow left field that fell safely with two on and one out and the Braves attempting to rally from three down that might have proved decisive in the Cardinals’ bizarre 6-3 Wild Card knockout victory here last night.
The defending World Series champion Cardinals, who won 88 games during the season, advance to a Division Series against Washington beginning in St. Louis on Sunday while the Braves, who won 94 games, are out—and maybe because of a phantom out.
The call on the ball that ultimately fell between shortstop Pete Kozma and left fielder Matt Holliday prompted the crowd to erupt in anger and hurl debris on the field. All players retreated to their respective dugouts during a delay of 19 minutes as the grounds crew attended to business.
The infield fly rule 2.00 states that the call should be made when a fly ball can be caught by an “infielder with an ordinary effort.”
Fifty feet onto the outfield grass–and on a night and on a play where the crowd was roaring, thus negating communication in the field–would not seem to fit the definition. As well, Kellogg waited a fair amount of time before raising his first in the air for the out call even as the rule states the umpire must “immediately declare.”
When play resumed, just summoned Jason Motte walked pinch hitter Brian McCann to load the bases. But Michael Bourn fanned after going up 3-1 in the count.
Beyond that, Chipper Jones made a damaging throwing error in the final game of his 19-year career, small solace for Mets fans.
Jones, who went 1-for-5 with the capacity crowd on its feet for each of his ups, reached on an infield hit with two out and no one on in the ninth to prolong the game. When Freddie Freeman doubled to left against Motte, Dan Uggla came up as the tying run.
But Uggla grounded to second to end the game, the Braves’ season and Jones’ career.
“I’m good either way,” Jones, who made his major league debut on Sept. 11, 1993, said before the game when asked about his emotions. “I was riding in [to the game] with my mom and dad, and I turned around and told my dad, I was like, ‘This is why I know I’m ready to go—I’m not even nervous.’
“I’m going to out and play hard for nine innings and hopefully not much further. Don’t want to go into extra innings but whatever happens, happens.”
What happened is that Jones, making his first post-season appearance since 2005 after having missed the Braves’ 2010 NLDS defeat to San Francisco with a knee injury, went 0-for-4 while involved on the wrong side of the game’s key play.
Medlen—whose team had not lost a game he had started since May 23, 2010, three months before he underwent Tommy John surgery—had breezed through three hitless innings, striking out four and facing just 10 batters, before Jones’ throwing error helped the Cardinals to a three-run fourth and a 3-2 lead.
Carlos Beltran, playing in his first post-season game since striking out with the bases loaded as a Met to end Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS against St. Louis, led off the fourth with a single. When Matt Holliday followed with a bouncer to third, it appeared the Braves were set to pull off a double play.
But Jones’ throw to second sailed over Dan Uggla’s head into right field, setting up the Cards with runners on second and third and none out. Allen Craig doubled to score Beltran while sending Holliday to third. Yadier Molina’s grounder to second tied the score one batter before David Freese plated Craig with a sacrifice fly to center to give St. Louis a 3-2 edge.
Holliday’s solo homer to left in the sixth gave St. Louis a 4-2 lead before more shoddy Atlanta infield work—throwing errors by Uggla and shortstop Andrelton Simmons—allowed the Cardinals to tack on another two runs.