Baseball rules corner: intentionally dropping infield fly with men on base is a risky play.

TWO YEARS AGO I DESIGNED A program titled Ruleball. My mission is to communicate the rules in such a manner to help teams win ballgames. The idea has caught on.

Currently I am affiliated with several major league teams as a rules consultant. A part of my program is to give two 90-minute workshops to the coaching staffs and various organizational personnel during spring training. The remainder of the year I serve as a consultant for various issues and provide monthly reports about interesting plays.

Ruleball is divided into 46 lessons covering the hot spots in the rulebook. Over the years, I have identified areas where teams have gotten into trouble because a player did not know a rule. I have also provided examples where a player knew a certain rule that benefited his team.

Such was the case on July 2 at Shea Stadium when Marlins' first baseman Carlos Delgado allowed a fly ball to drop untouched to create a double play in a game against the Mets.

In the bottom of the third inning, the Mets had Jose Reyes on first base and one out when Carlos Beltran hit a soft fly ball to Delgado who allowed the ball to drop untouched. Beltran, thinking he would easily be erased, didn't run hard out of the box. Delgado saw this and let the ball drop. He picked it up and threw to second for a 3-6-3 double play.

This is a clever tactic normally used to exchange a speedy runner with a slower one. It's in the best interests of the defensive team to take the faster runner off the bases. Since Reyes, who can run like a rabbit, was frozen on the fly ball, he had to hold the bag. He thus became an easy out. Actually, Delgado could have completed the twin killing in a more practical way by tagging Reyes, who was forced to go to second, and then simply step on the bag to double up Beltran who fell asleep at the plate.

Keep in mind that the Infield Fly rule does not provide protection to the offensive team in the above situation. It can only be invoked when there are runners on first and second, or first, second, and third and less than two outs. In the mentioned scenario, the Mets only had a runner on first so they were not protected by the provisions of the Infield Fly rule.