This is the only baseball worth watching, even though I watch the umpires when I go to a game.
Saw two things that made me think.
Batter (RH) stood in the box and took a pitch off his left shoulder and didn't even blink an eye to avoid being hit by a CHANGE UP. My grandmother could have gotten out of the way of that one and she's been dead for 15 years. I jokingly mentioned this to my wife and the seasoned veteran of a fan heard me and proceeded to tell me that in baseball there is no rule requiring the batter to try to move. I could only laugh. Batter was awarded 1B and, yes, baseball has the same exception to the award for not attempting to avoid being hit as does most softball organizations.
Second thing reminded me of the redundancy of some calls. On every foul ball down either line, the umpire would give a dead ball signal, call "foul" and then point foul.
Question is, why? If an umpire calls foul and gives a dead ball signal, why would the umpire point toward foul territory. This isn't a call that needs to be sold as there is no alternative once it occurs. I wonder what would happen if the umpire called foul and pointed fair?
