The Rulebook Conundrum Thread

[Westheim]

So, weird one...

I went straight to bed after the early Mets game last night (which ended at like 0:45am here), so I didn't catch any after-game ruckus if there was one... (although I doubt they had time for that)

But the Giants made a stink in the 10th inning after the Mets went "creative"(?) in the bottom 9th.

Mets lineup:

LF McNeil
RF Marte
SS Lindor
1B Alonso
3B Escobar
2B Cano
DH Davis
CF Jankowski
C McCann

Escobar and Cano get on base to begin the bottom 9th. At that point, Guillorme pinch-hits for Davis and bunts the runners into scoring position in what is a 4-4 game, and what I find a weird move. The Giants then strike out Jankowski and Dom Smith, who is pinch-hitting for McCann. Inning ends, extras.

So now we're here:

LF McNeil
RF Marte
SS Lindor
1B Alonso
3B Escobar
2B Cano
PH Guillorme (was DH)
CF Jankowski
PH Smith

The Mets need to get Tomas Nido into the game as backup catcher now. They put Nido into the #8 spot, and Brandon Nimmo, a much better runner, into the #9 spot, which will mark the free bogus runner in the bottom 10th:

LF McNeil
RF Marte
SS Lindor
1B Alonso
3B Escobar
2B Cano
DH Guillorme
C Nido
CF Nimmo (free bogus runner)

Nimmo entered the game late, though, when the top 10th was almost ready to begin and with Jankowski already on the field. Nido was behind the dish to catch. But even the scoreboard initially had the order wrong initially, showing Nimmo in #8 and Nido in #9. (But the scoreboard operators at Citi also couldn't keep all the no-name Diamondbacks relievers apart on Jackie Robinson Day, showing the wrong one on the scoreboard at least once, so they can hardly be the authority here.)

The Giants argued against the Nimmo insertion and/or the order of the #8/#9 hitters. Word on the Mets broadcast was that the players in a double switch must enter at the same time, but how does that make any sense? It's not a double switch to begin with, is it? And... If there had been a pitcher in the #9 spot, I can hit any bum for him, and then put that bum on whatever position I like afterwards and put a different pitcher in the vacated slot. I don't really get on what basis the Giants were protesting the move, EXCEPT that it *appeared* as if the Mets moved guys around their batting order with the late substitution of Jankowski for Nimmo to begin the top 10th. Nido *appeared* to bat 9th and be the free bogus runner for the bottom 10th, and only then they came up with Nimmo and "bumped" Nido up to 8th?

Also, to hell with the DH. I would have lined them up like THIS for the 10th...:

2B McNeil
RF Marte
SS Lindor
1B Alonso
3B Escobar
P Ottavino
C Nido
CF Nimmo
LF Smith

That's still a better D than having "Six inches of range" Cano at the keystone!

Ah, to heck. At least we won.

[Leo_The_Lip]

What the scoreboard shows is not official, so SF could not rely on that. The umps need to establish what the Mets did, so the changes, while late, took place before the inning started.

So what the Mets did was fine, no problem.

What did the umps rule?

[Westheim]

The insertion of Nido as #8 and Nimmo as #9 were permissible according to the umpires. Nimmo was the fake runner to start the bottom 10th and scored the winning run eventually (though, as things went, Nido would have scored just the same).