In game 3 last night, in the bottom of the 9th inning with 2 out, Allen Craig scored the winning run to give the Cards a 5 to 4 victory over the Red Sox. He did this by being 'obstructed' by the Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks who had just fallen trying to receive a throw from the catcher was called by the umpires as being in the way of Allen Craig who was trying to run from 3rd base to home. Craig tripped over the 3rd baseman, delaying him a second or so, and although the later throw home and tag would have otherwise made him the 3rd out of the inning--the obstruction call superseded that, thus advancing him safely home for the winning run. Crazy huh?
The Cards winning this way is starting to become routine however. Because last year, in the Braves vs. Cards wild card game, St. Louis benefitted from another controversial call by the umps in that game as well. The call last year, an in-field fly rule call, although in itself not costing the Braves the game, surely hampered their momentum and I believe probably cost them at least one potential run. At that point in the game the Braves were trailing 6 to 3 in the eighth inning and if the call had not been made would have had the bases loaded with one out. After this McCann walked, leaving the bases loaded with 2 outs. But then M. Bourn struck out and the inning was over. The Braves managed to get 2 base runners on in the 9th inning (C. Jones & F. Freeman), after 2 outs by M. Prado & J. Heyward, but then D. Uggla groundout for the 3rd out & the game was over.
Later in the 2012 NLCS the San Francisco Giants defeated the Cardinals and went on to play in the World Series. This year in 2013 the Cardinals beat the Dodgers (who previously beat the Braves) to face off against Boston in the World Series. The call last night was the latest in bizarre situations that seem to happen in baseball, and quite often with the Cardinals. At least this year my team the Braves didn't have to suffer losing in such a disappointing way. I'm sure that Boston fans are still grumbling about last night's obstruction call, though truthfully even though I disagree with the umpire's call I think he got it right. Looking at the rule more closely I couldn't find anything to dispute his judgement. Yes, I know that the 3rd baseman did nothing wrong & did not do it intentionally, but technically he did obstruct the runner. You can second-guess intentions all day long, but it was the right call. In my view, if the catcher hadn't gotten 'greedy' and thrown the ball to 3rd base in trying to get the runner out they wouldn't have gotten themselves in that situation to begin with. He could have held the ball instead and let play resume. Maybe they could have gotten the next batter out & the game would have gone on to the 10th inning. Then maybe Boston could have won. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. It is what it is & we'll play another game today with the Cards leading 2 games to 1.
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/10/27/text-mlb-obstruction-rule-invoked-in-th-inning-world-series-game-3/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/05/infield-fly-rule-braves-cardinals-wild-card_n_1944240.html
Update: Even with the Cardinals luck in game 3 they fell short again to win the ultimate prize and were bested by the Boston Red Sox in six games, winning 4 games to 2. So, after the bizarre turn of events in game 3 Boston then lost no more games to the Cardinals. And once again the Red Sox are World Series champs.
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