[thechat] baseball rules

[Erik Mattheis]

I'm not a sports fan but went to the Athletics @ Twins game Friday
and had a blast ... being with  56,000 people experiencing
approximately the same emotion at the same time is wild!

One thing about the game still bugs me, and nobody has been able to explain it:

One of the A's was at bat with two strikes and two outs. The batter
swung at the ball and seemed to miss and everybody started leaving
the field. The home plate umpire then conferred with the first base
ump and everybody was called back ... the crowd murmured in dismay
until the announcer said "that last pitch was a foul-tip".

My question is: did the Twin's catcher drop the ball? If not way was
this not an out? ... from MLB rules:

6.05 A batter is out when:

(b) A third strike is legally caught by the catcher; "Legally caught"
means in the catcher's glove before the ball touches the ground. It
is not legal if the ball lodges in his clothing or paraphernalia; or
if it touches the umpire and is caught by the catcher on the rebound.
If a foul tip first strikes the catcher's glove and then goes on
through and is caught by both hands against his body or protector,
before the ball touches the ground, it is a strike, and if third
strike, batter is out. If smothered against his body or protector, it
is a catch provided the ball struck the catcher's glove or hand first.

Does this mean that if the catcher bobbles the ball, but catches it,
it's a strike but he directly catches it with his mitt it's not???

Can anybody explain what happened?
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- Erik Mattheis

(612) 377 2272
http://goZz.com/

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