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"HOW DO YOU KNOW WITHOUT SEEING THIS PLAY THAT THE RUNNER DID NOT DELIBERATELY AND WITH MALICE AND FORETHOUGHT INTENTIONALLY CAUSE THE DEFENSE TO HESITATE. SINCE I CAN'T READ THAT RUNNERS MIND I'M GOING TO USE COMMON SENSE.
1. WHY IS HE RUNNING ON A POP UP. STUPID PLAY
2. IF IT'S A STUPID PLAY WHY SHOULD I BAIL HIM OUT.
3. MAYBE HE'S A SMART PLAYER THAT THOUGHT THERE WERE TWO OUTS AND IS TRYING TO SAVE HIS A**"
First, Gordo - stop shouting.
Second, Gordo - intention has absolutely no bearing on interference. If you were even a speck of a decent umpire, you'd know that. Whether the runner INTENDED to cause the defense to hesitate or not is completely irrelevant. Whether he DID interfere with the fielder's ability to catch the ball is ALL that matters. If he INTENDED to cause the defense to hesitate, and failed to do so, he's not out. If he did NOT intend to interfere, yet interfered anyway, he's out. So, get INTENTION completely out of your mind.
Third, Gordo - it is not your place or mine to penalize stupidity or reward intelligence. Call the damn game by the damn rules. You are not "bailing him out" if you don't call him out when an out is not warranted.
Fourth, Gordo - Common sense does not include disregarding the rules. Instead of using common sense to enforce a personal agenda, use your common sense to tell you what rule to apply and apply it correctly.
Lastly, Gordo - if that was a joke, it was a poor one. If it was a joke, why did you perpetuate the joke seriously in this subsequent post? It is a pet peeve of mine to see umpires (whether they work for me or not) who just want to get the game over. There's no place for "benefit of the doubt" on this play. See what you call, and Call what you see. Period. You should not be thinking... "How can I get an out here" or "How can I get the game over with quicker." You should not be thinking, "I wonder how smart that runner is, and what he was thinking about." You SHOULD be thinking, "Did the runner interfere?" And that's ALL you should be thinking. If you cannot divorce your personal agenda from your ability to make judgement where judgement is required, and call based on that judgement, then PLEASE leave the field.
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