Dunno if you saw last night’s wild finish between the Phils and the Cubs, but I haven’t seen anyone explain the ruling of the play. With the bases loaded and one out, Pat Burrell struck out, but the catcher dropped the ball. Burrell began running to first. The catcher got the ball, and then threw to third to try to catch runner Jimmy Rollins off the base. Rollins then ran home and beat the throw from third back to home. Some guys at the Black Sheep were yelling that all the catcher had to do was touch home plate for a force out, and I thought so too. After looking in my handy baseball rule book, I found that that is not the case. With first base occupied and less than two outs, the batter is automatically out, and cannot advance to first base. There was no force play on, and Burrell was automatically out. Had there been two outs and Burrell struck out swinging, then yes, there would have been a potential force play at home. Sorry, I know there’s been a lot of baseball stuff lately. But that play was particularly wacky, and they didn’t explain the ruling anywhere that I read about it.
