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Originally posted by gotblue?
Any word on the rationale for the balk call against the Orioles' pitcher in the 8th inning of Monday's game? Jim Palmer seemed to be adamant that he saw no balk on that play. To his credit, a half-inning later, he noted that there were numerous reasons (runners LOB, etc.) that the O's were in a precarious situation in the game. Just wondering if there was a post-game debrief that is available to the public as to what PU saw, and what rule was violated.
The problem is that in major league baseball balks are not consistent and are called less frequently.
If memory serves about 4 years ago a memorandum was issued to the umpires instructing them to start calling more balks. In that year they had more balk calls in 1/2 the season then all of the previous season, then:
I think it was after the All Star Break, the players union got involved and basically stated "Ease-up" if you want to work here. Therefore, the remainder of the season, the umpires became lax on the balk calls.
Pete Booth
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Peter M. Booth
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