WGYWB,
This one is a little "tricky" because the way the rule is written is certainly confusing.
For bossman's situation (i.e. where the bat is still moving when it contacts the fair batted ball), you only need the first sentence of the rule:
"A batter is out when_(h)After hitting or bunting a fair ball, his bat hits the ball a second time in fair territory. ..."
But, that's not all the rule says. It also says if "...the ball rolls against the bat..." the batter is only out if the umpire deemed that the batter intended that it do so. What this means, is that if the bat is not moving when it and the fair batted ball come into contact, the batter is not out (absent intent).
The wording of the rule itself certainly doesn't make this "crystal clear".
The MLBUM commentary on the subject does.
"If the batter-runner drops the bat and the ball rolls against the stationary bat in fair territory and,
in the umpire's judgment, there was no intention to interfere with the course of the ball, the ball
is alive and in play, the same as if it had not hit the bat."
So, in busman's situation, intent or no, the batter is properly called out under 6.05(h). As his partner correctly explained, had the bat been stationary at the time of contact, he would not have been out and the ball would have remained "in play".
Also, FWIW, I completely agree with Macaroo's statement that if there are pitcher inning limitations in the rules being played under, and forcing the substitute pitcher to comply with the 3.05(b) requirement would put him in violation of those limits, common sense should prevail and the pitching limits should "trump" the 3.05(b) requirement.
Bossman,
In response to 2) in your post immediately above:
Yes, once the pitcher "takes his place on the rubber" he is the pitcher. There really is no "before the inning" (except for the 1st half of the 1st inning); the next half inning begins as soon as the third out of the previous inning occurs. This may not always be obvious, because if there are "pending valid appeals", the apparent final out of the inning hasn't actually happened until the defense has left the field and lost it's right to make those appeals. Or, in a BOOT situation where the last batter of the previous half inning was "improper", until the first pitch of the new half inning.
Once the game starts, you're always in some inning, and substitutions always occur while the ball is "dead".
JM
(Edited to add response to Bossman's 2) )
[Edited by CoachJM on May 17th, 2005 at 11:25 PM]
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