Thank you BatGirl for saving me much tossing and turning by explaining this play of plays!

And Batgirl has it exactly right. Yay Batgirl. Even Palermo didn't quite manage.

Is Sweeney somehow OK after getting creamed like that? I suppose with our luck, it probably solved all of his back problems forever.

I'm not usually a huge fan of Legovision, but that was one of the best; an enlightening and appropriate explanation of a very strange play. Well done.

Wonderful re-enactment, as usual.

I'm a little unnerved that I am looking at Lego-vision, and understanding the play better than I did the numerous times the replay with the human players was shown. Plus, I'm able to pick out exactly which player is characterized by the Lego version.
Should I be worried?

I hope people appreciate how much baseball sense Jacques Jones has. His refusal to stay uninvolved in the outfield, and his line that "you can never go wrong by tagging somebody," make him the kind of player you want on the field. Even though it wasn't a Sox player, I still appreicate the heads up fielding. And on a team like the Twins, that prides itself on defense, people should take note of an outfielder with an infielder's instincts. It's pretty rare. And another thing. GO SOX!

Thanks for that non mlb.com rules URL, batgirl. I looked at mlb.com and thought I read that the runners could advance at risk, not exactly sure if that involved at risk for not tagging up or not. I assumed not, because that seemed stupid. Seems the rules are stupid.

Gotta love doogie:

"I think I'm mentally dumber now than I was before the game," Twins first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz said. "I know less about the game now than I did before this game started."

Taking a bit from "Billy Madison" wins you points from me, Doogie!

This is almost exactly the type of play that the "infield fly" rule is to protect the batting team from.

IF Doug dropped the ball intentionally, and Sweeney was 'dogging it' and walking back to the dugout, then Doug lets the ball drop, fires to second base to get Beltran out, and then covers first for the double play.

It doesn't work if Sweeney runs hard on the pop-up. Legovision rules.

Thanks, Batgirl, for once again coming to the aid of all Twins fans who cannot watch the games on TV on account of living in a country that calls baseball "honkbal" and doesn't broadcast games even though one-time Twins pitcher and current broadcaster Bert Blyleven and future Twins ace Alex Smit were born here. Er, actually, to the best of my knowledge there are only three Twins fans here in this honkbal-calling, Blyleven-birthing, Smit-spawning country, two of whom do not frequent your site, but still. Thanks for the graphical re-enactments.

Jacques Jones revealed depths of wisdom and lyrical playfullness in his comments about The Unusual Play. Wisdom, when he said, "I was trying to be sure. You can never go wrong by tagging somebody." No, Jacques, you can never go wrong by tagging somebody.

And lyricism in the haiku-like quality of his words when he said:

I had to be somewhere.
I couldn't just stand around.
So I went to first.

Genius. It only remains to be seen whether Jones is merely a savant of the infield-fly rule, or whether he existential insights extend to other aspects of the game.

Did Sweeney's nailing by Doug's throw remind anyone of playing dodgeball as a kid? Forget the baseball IQ shown by JJ, which was laudable, Doug hitting the target was my favorite part of the play -- and the part that shall go down in SportsCenter infamy. In this scenario, think of JJ as NPR and Dougie as Fox News. Sometimes, you need a little base entertainment.

Dear Mr. Davis,

It did, suddenly, look to Team Batgirl as if that were part of the rules of the game; if you drop a pop fly, if you bean the unwitting batter in the back, he's still out. Or at least he has a great big bruise.

Sincerely,
Batgirl

While Jacque's demonstration of his baseball IQ was laudable and Doug's dodgeball flashback highly amusing (now that we know that Sweeney wasn't hurt—perhaps modern-day sluggers wear kevlar vests with their plastic plate mail), the man that truly made the second half of the play possible was Angel Berroa. Was he so thoroughly confused by the goings on that he was frozen like the proverbial deer in headlights? Was he simply admiring the technique Sweeney used to hit the turf (which Legovision captured with remarkable clarity)? One has to wonder...

Since you probably don't pay attention to NL West games, a similar (albeit not-quite-so-weird) play happened last year in a game between the Expos and Giants, which the Expos eventually won (or from a Dodger fan's point of view, the Giants eventually lost, all the better). Bases loaded, one out, Bonds at the plate. Bonds pops up, infield fly rule declared in effect. Three Expos attempt to catch the ball, three Expos fail. Neifi Perez then whistles home, hoping hobody notices. Michael Barrett loses the ball, and then 3B Fernando Tatis tags home plate.

Problem: there's no force available.

Perez then scored.

The Expos started yelling at the umpire, and Montreal manager Frank Robinson had to come out to the team and explain the infield fly rule to them, especially the "advance at their own peril" part. Easily the weirdest play I saw all last year, with the possible exception of Trot Nixon throwing a caught fly ball (the second out in the inning), allowing the Angels baserunners to advance.

BTW, if I didn't say it before, Legovision rocks.

Rob,

Didn't the throw beat Perez?

Perez dropped his head like he knew that he was out but didn't move out of the baseline. He might of turned towards the dugout, but I don't think he took any steps out.

Then when the catcher looked away, he dove for the plate. Best play ever.

>Perez then scored.

I like this part.

We have a wacky play that people are still trying to puzzle out, two days later. Wackier still, that it starts to make sense when demonstrated with Legos. And it's beautifully encapsulated in haiku by a fellow Twins fan from the Netherlands.

Do Vikes fanatics know such pleasures from their football? Nay.