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Tony Snow Dead

July 12th, 2008

He was just 53 years old. I may not have liked his politics, but 53 is far too young for anyone to go. My thoughts go out to his family and loved ones. Having lost my uncle (age 56) to cancer just a few weeks ago, I know exactly what they’re going through.

Categories: News & Current Events | 4 Comments

Baseball Bleg

July 12th, 2008

So I was teaching my wife to score baseball today at a minor league game, and encountered a scenario that I’m not sure how to score. Runner on first, batter grounds to the second baseman. The second baseman “freezes” the baserunner and throws over to first to get the batter out at first. 4-3, so far so good. But the runner is still out there between first and second. I had thought that it was as simple as throwing back over to second to get the second out and turn the double play, but apparently, since the batter was thrown out at first base first, that leaves the baserunner with the option of going on to second, or running back to first. And he’s caught in a rundown. So after the 4-3 I already mentioned, 3 throws back to 4, who throws back to 3, who tags the runner.

How the hell do you score that? 4-3-4-3? And is the batter credited with grounding into a double play in that scenario? And however the hell you do it, how the hell do you fit it in the little 0.75mm² box they give you?

I also have a couple of questions about minor details, since it’s been perhaps 25 years since I’ve scored a ball game:

Is any fly out that advances a runner a sac fly, or only ones on which the runner scores?
How do you indicate whether an out on the basepaths was a force out or a tag out?
I’m 95% sure that a batter who grounds into a double play that scores a run is not credited with an RBI, but I’d like confirmation of that.
What’s the code to indicate a runner was picked off?

I expect digglahhh will answer all these questions from memory, but we’ll see.

UPDATE: I got tired of waiting for digglahhh, so I looked a few of them up, and have other updates:

According to rule 10.08, it is only scored as a sacrifice fly a runner scores as a result.
According to rule 10.04, if you ground into a double play, you are not credited with an RBI, even if a runner scores. Also, if you ground into what should be a double play but isn’t because of an error, you’re not credit with an RBI.
Someone asked how the runner at first could be “frozen”; basically, the ball was grounded between first and second base, and the second baseman fielded the ball. Once it was in his glove, he was standing directly between the runner and second base. Had the runner continued, he would have run directly into a tag, at which point there was an easy throw to first for the second out. The second baseman didn’t have sufficient time to turn around, throw to second (being covered by the shortstop), and have the shortstop throw over to first. In my estimation, however, it was decidedly a baserunning error by the runner; had he tried to run around the second baseman, he would have forced the second baseman to choose between chasing and tagging him or throwing over to first. At a minimum, after the second baseman threw to first, the runner should have tried to advance to second instead of trying to go back to first, which is what he actually did. By trying to run back to first, he made it a rundown situation instead of a simple tag play at second.
According to the MLB definitions, it looks like it should be scored as a “reverse double play,” and the batter should be charged with grounding into a double play. And indeed, the official box score is available, and it lists the batter (Sanchez) as having grounded into a double-play. (His other two at bats were a base hit and a strikeout.) My memory of it was not quite right, though. They scored it 4-3-6-3. (You have to follow the gameday flash link from the box score — the little baseball diamond next to the “Box” link — in order to get the official play-by-play.)