Phillies Cesar Hernandez forgets the infield fly rule

Yeah, it was embarrassing.

Losing to the defending National League champs is nothing to be ashamed of. The performance of the bullpen was, once again, horrible and tough to watch, and the offense still hasn't been able to take some of those home runs hit off Double-A pitchers this spring and turn them into dingers off Jacob deGrom.

But losing a baseball game is one thing. What happened in the eighth inning of the Phils' 7-2 loss is a bit more embarrassing, especially for one player in particular, Cesar Hernandez.

Let's let the moving pictures tell you what happened.

Yikes.

After the game, manager Pete Mackanin wasn't too pleased with his infielder's brain fart.

Mackanin not happy with Hernandez getting doubled up on infield fly. "It's unacceptable. ... He should know better. He's an infielder."

— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) April 8, 2016

And Hernandez himself admitted he made a bad, although did offer up a bit of an excuse.

Cesar said it was loud, couldn't hear anybody, reacted to ball. And "There no excuses. I take full responsibility... It won’t happen again"

— Ryan Lawrence (@ryanlawrence21) April 8, 2016

But this isn't the first time the infield fly rule has confused the heck out of professionals who play this game for a living.

But here are some cats who got it right.

For those who need an explanation of the infield fly rule, here it is, in layman's terms.

When there are runners on first and second and less than two out, if a batter hits a pop up in the infield that the umpires judge to be a routine play, the batter is automatically called out whether the ball is caught or not. The reason the batter is called out before the ball is caught or lands on the ground is to prevent a player from purposely allowing the ball to hit the ground and then turning a double play.

Because the ball is hit so high in the air, if there were no infield fly rule, the runners would have to stay close to first and second base because if the infielder catches the ball in the air, they could be doubled off if they weren't.

However, if the ball falls to the ground, as it did today, and there were no infield fly rule, the fielder could throw to third for a force-out and then throw to second for a force-out, doubling off the runners who stayed close to first and second base. Or the fielder could throw to second to force the runner who stayed on the bag at first and then tag out the runner at second.

The infield fly rule protects the runners from infielder shenanigans.

Most of you reading this site already know this rule, and certainly Hernandez knew the rule too. But in the excitement of the moment, seeing the ball fall to the ground, Hernandez panicked and took off for second, putting himself at risk.

Hernandez should have known better. But he didn't and turned in a play that was fit for little league.

Kind of indicative of how the first four games of the season have gone, huh?

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