Phillies Breakfast Links, August 13, 2009: A Minor Cycle, Beer Detectives, Maaaaatloocckk!!

“fishtown” precedes “convicts”…? go there sometime, its not the 70’s anymore.

i know i’m preaching to the choir, but this really better not be entered into the annals of philadelphia sports hooliganry. the story really needs to be seen for what it is: a couple of criminals getting drunk and killing someone. more an indictment of the PA correctional system than it is of phillies fans or the neighborhood they are from.

Not trollin’ on the Phils. Just sayin’, Philly’s got a bad reputation. I go there all the time and it’s a tough place to watch a game as a visitor. I did see a bunch of tools in their Red Sox gear at a Phils/Padres game get slammed with beer and garbage. I had all the love in the world for Philly at that game.

umpires cannot penalize fan behavior, then can only negate the effects.

Therefore….had Victorino dropped the ball what would have LIKELY been the result is the out is awarded, the batter credited with a SF, the runner at third scores and the guy from second PROBABLY not allowed to tag up as it is somewhat feasible (albeit unlikely) that Victorino could have thrown him out at third.

Had Victorino aimed his post beer dousing throw towards third (instead of second), I think Manuel could have successfully argued fan-interference and had him returned to second base.

Okay, nevermind. There’s pretty much an exact example of what happened last night detailed in the MLB.com rulebook. Runner scores.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/game_preliminaries_3.jsp
3.16
When there is spectator interference with any thrown or batted ball, the ball shall be dead at the moment of interference and the umpire shall impose such penalties as in his opinion will nullify the act of interference.
APPROVED RULING: If spectator interference clearly prevents a fielder from catching a fly ball, the umpire shall declare the batter out.
Rule 3.16 Comment: There is a difference between a ball which has been thrown or batted into the stands, touching a spectator thereby being out of play even though it rebounds onto the field and a spectator going onto the field or reaching over, under or through a barrier and touching a ball in play or touching or otherwise interfering with a player. In the latter case it is clearly intentional and shall be dealt with as intentional interference as in Rule 3.15. Batter and runners shall be placed where in the umpire’s judgment they would have been had the interference not occurred.
No interference shall be allowed when a fielder reaches over a fence, railing, rope or into a stand to catch a ball. He does so at his own risk. However, should a spectator reach out on the playing field side of such fence, railing or rope, and plainly prevent the fielder from catching the ball, then the batsman should be called out for the spectator’s interference. Example: Runner on third base, one out and a batter hits a fly ball deep to the outfield (fair or foul). Spectator clearly interferes with the outfielder attempting to catch the fly ball. Umpire calls the batter out for spectator interference. Ball is dead at the time of the call. Umpire decides that because of the distance the ball was hit, the runner on third base would have scored after the catch if the fielder had caught the ball which was interfered with, therefore, the runner is permitted to score. This might not be the case if such fly ball was interfered with a short distance from home plate. *