Man… even major league players don’t know the infield fly rule.
With one out, Mike Sweeney popped up with the bases loaded. Doug Mientkiewicz dropped the ball in short right, but umpires already had called out Sweeney on the infield fly rule.
Mientkiewicz threw to first in an attempt to double up Carlos Beltran, but his throw struck Sweeney in the back. As Sweeney lay on the ground, Desi Relaford scored from third. Catcher Henry Blanco ran down the ball and threw to first, where Jones tagged out Beltran off the bag for the final out.
Runners advance at their own peril, force is off, Beltran had to be tagged. So Berroa (who was on second) was at fault, it seems - since Sweeney was down and everyone was confused and it seemed Relaford had time to score, Berroa should have had time to run to third. The story’s only improved my estimation of Beltran and his baseball mind…
Mmm. There’s a nice possibility of a fake play which takes advantage of people’s ignorance of the tag rule - on an infield fly, the batter’s out anyway. So the fielder should drop the ball on purpose but make it look like an accident, and see what the runner does. If the runner is confused enough to go, get ready for the tag…