Never be afraid to let the players help make the call!
By that, I don't mean letting them talk you into the call, but watch & continue to watch their actions for clues to confirm/support your observations.
If they are immediately looking at you with an uncertain expression, they probably aren't sure what happened.
As you noticed, a player that appears pushed probably was, such as by the tag.
If they immediately preceed to make a followup tag on a force play before you could even make a hurried call, they might just be confirming they pulled the foot on the tag.
Just examples.
And nowhere does any rule book I'm aware of direct the umpire to NOT use all senses and available info. except the exclusion of video replay.
__________________
Panda Bear
|