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To David B:
So ,what you're saying is that out of 2559 threads in this baseball forum, containing over 26,000 replies, a newbie umpire will be drawn into this one and be all confused? Maybe to the point that he just throws his hands up and declares "I can't take it, I just don't understand?" We should be ever so thankful that you're on the job protecting the weak.
To everyone else:
Now I do agree that the original play, in toto, is farcical. However, the reason I brought it over from eTeamz(aside from Tee vs Rat entertainment value) is the first premise that this play is based upon: F1, in a legal delivery, loses control of the pitch. That's a common enough occurrence. The ball travels towards the vicinity of the plate, either rolling or bouncing slightly along the ground(not so common). The batter can obviously offer at it if it gets close enough. But what if the ball stops a foot or two in front of the plate? Can the batter still take a golf swing at it? How long must such a stopped pitch be considered live? Now add a runner. What are the balk implications, and when are they enforced? How about the runner moving on the pitch? Does F2 have to wait for the ball to stop moving, or for the batter to offer?
So IMO it's not the TWP in itself that causes problems, it's how they're thought about and discussed. I'm one of those new(albeit not so young) umpires that everyone here seems to be so concerned about. I was actually looking forward to having this play parsed by the more knowledgable umpires that inhabit this site. Truth is I am somewhat suprised that Tee, as inimical as he is sometimes, was the only one who looked beyond the nature of this play and pulled something of value out of it.
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