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I love how, in this case, we are suppose to take the "intent" of the rule. However, when considering a balk call in the case of a pitcher throwing delibrately to an outfielder with a runner on 2nd from the rubber (ie not making a play on R2), we don't call a balk since it's not prohibitted in "writting".
I serious doubt that the guys who created the (balk) rules intended for the pitcher to throw to an outfielder for the express purpose of deceiving the runner. If you look at the pitching rules, you are generally given three options:
(1) deliver the ball to the batter
(2) step and throw to a base in an attempt to pick off a runner
(3) disengage the rubber
Any ba$tardization of the rules (or interpretation thereof) is not in the spirit, nor intent of the rules, of baseball - IMHO!
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