[Tru_in_Blu]

I've worked many a game where the foul lines appeared to be put down by someone after their tee mini martoonie lunch.

Sometime the lines are bowed in or out, sometimes they're crooked. I might have an easier sell of a call without lines at times. But where there are lines, I do tell the coaches at the plate conference that I will utilize the chalk. A ball that might have traveled 20 feet further down the line might have a different result.

For infield calls on rollers down a line, I will use whatever might be left of the original line. Eight inch lines don't work. A lot of times we're lucky to get 2 inch lines.

Many games are worked without any kind of lines. At the plate conference, I tell the coaches that my partner and I will make calls based upon the lines of which only my partner and I can see. Give them a good effort and hustle to a place to make the call, and they're usually OK to deal with.