A bad call in the bottom of the ninth inning cost the Marlins a victory over the Phillies:
A ruling by third base umpire Bob Davidson cost the Marlins a victory in the ninth. Gaby Sanchez pulled a grounder over third base for a hit that would have scored Hanley Ramirez from second base, but Davidson ruled the ball foul.
Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez argued in vain, and replays showed ball landed inside the line behind the base.
Carlos Ruiz hit a home run in the top of the tenth to win the game 5-4 for Philadelphia. The Phillies keep pace with the Braves. Roy Oswalt pitched well, but doesn’t get any bullpen support and fails to get a win.
After the game, Davidson insisted he made the right call: that he saw the ball in foul territory (in the air) as it passed third base, so it’s irrelevant where it landed.
So the ball bounced in fair territory before reaching the bag, then swerved into foul ground, and — while still in the air — swerved back inside the foul line and landed in fair territory.
Hey, Bob: Sir Isaac Newton has a few questions for you.
Sir Isaac, Mr. Bernoulli here has an answer for you.
It’s conceivable, jvwalt. The ball could have a lot of spin. Sanchez hits the ball out in front of the plate, say, and it’s heading foul, but it bounces first in fair territory. He sliced it, though, so although it’s heading foul it’s also curving back toward fair territory. (Is that a slice or a hook? I don’t know from golf.) So it describes a shallow curve, bowing outward, with a point just foul outside of third but a point fair short of third, where it bounces, and then fair again in the outfield.
Yeah, it didn’t happen 🙂 But I like the physics of it. This reminds me of the story of Fred Goldsmith demonstrating that the curve ball is real (not an optical illusion) by throwing one so it passed to the right of one pole, the left of a second, and then to the right of a third.
@jvwalt: Maybe it was a knuckle ball.
…or a gyroball.