Nick Punto, Chip Caray and the Platonic Essence of a Base Hit

Below is a maximum resolution clip of a play in the 10th inning of the 2009 play in game between the Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Tigers.  A play-by-play of one of the greatest games in Twins history can be found here.  But that's not the point.  Note video below.

"BASE HIT!" TBS announcer Chip Caray exclaims as Punto smacks the ball authoritatively to left, followed immediately by a somewhat contradictory "Caught out there!".  Then Alexi Castilla makes everything ten times worse by being easily mowed down at the plate by Ryan Raburn.

"Damnit, Alexi Castilla" - Plato

Now, for those who seem to believe that Chip Caray made a stupid, hilarious mistake, I posit a different theory.  You see, Caray recognized Punto's talent for what it is, a universal platonic Form.  Of course Punto intended to get a hit, but it was unfortunately (and inexplicably) caught.  But since Punto's talent is universal, infallible, and immaculate, similar to Plato's ideals of justice, unity, and beauty, Punto's hit was not a fly out, but rather a base hit that just happened to be caught.  Plato acknowledges that all physical manifestations of Forms are imperfect, and this just happens to be a very imperfect manifestation of Punto's pristine talent.  With this, we can see that Caray's pronouncement was not mere boneheaded happenstance, but truly a proclamation of his belief in Plato's Theory of Forms, and of Nick Punto himself as existing in the intelligible realm.

It is rumored that in the subsequent commercial break between the bottom of the tenth and top of the eleventh, Caray looked at the boom operator dead in the eyes and said, "For now, I am content to be a naive observer, watching the shadows dance on the wall of the cave.  But someday... someday I will emerge from the cave and finally observe the world around me.  And Nick Punto will be there, sliding head-first into first base."