[greymule]

I sometimes get caught up in thinking about how much effect I had on the outcome of a game. Leadoff batter in the sixth takes a close 3-2 pitch that I call strike 3. But was it a little inside? Didn't I call that same pitch a ball on an 0-2 count in the first inning?

Then a single and a walk. Long fly, two out, both runners move up. Long fly, three outs. Well, had I called that 3-2 pitch ball 4, the offense would have scored 2 runs and had runners on 2B and 3B with 2 out. Then, when the leadoff batter in the seventh gets a hit, I wonder whether I cost that team 4 runs.

Of course, this kind of thinking assumes that the game would have proceeded exactly as it did. And you can go crazy looking at all the what-ifs.

I remember a college game in which we were down 1, bottom of the ninth, bases loaded. Ground ball deep in the hole to F6, throw to 2B is obviously too late, one run in, speedster from 2B steaming home. Then we realize the BU has called the runner out a 2B. Did he cost us the game? Apparently, but how about other plays—not so obvious—earlier in the game that could have changed the direction one way or the other?