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Originally posted by David Emerling
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Originally posted by tcannizzo
Quote:
Originally posted by David Emerling
I disagree, because the defense deserves an IMMEDIATE call from the PU for decision making purposes.
If the winning run was at 3rd, don't you think it would be important for the catcher to know if the batter was out or not? Or, are you suggesting that the umpire should make a "no call" and wait and see what happens?
Phooey! Don't you think it would be equally important for the offense to know also?
I think you're setting yourself up for and absolute sh*t storm should you do that in a critical situation. And this is why Doug Eddings is taking so much heat. He had probably been calling swinging 3rd strikes like that for a very long time and nobody either cared nor did it ever matter very much. But this time it blew up in his face in a League Championship Series with millions of people watching and cameras catching the action from every possible angle.
The only thing that made that situation critical was the defense screwing up.
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No, I *don't* think it would be "equally important" for the offense to know the answer to that question. Whatever the umpire may rule, the runner from 3rd is *not* going to attempt to advance home if the catcher does *not* throw it to 1st. It really doesn't matter what the umpire rules. From the runner's perspective, the *only* thing that matters is if the catcher throws the ball or not.
To the runner, it's completely academic as to whether the catcher NEEDED to throw it or not, regardless of the umpire's ruling. For that matter, it's completely academic as far as the batter is concerned. I've seen many batters who always take off running toward first after a swinging third strike. They play every third strike as if it was dropped. It doesn't cost anything. That's not true for the defense, however. Throwing unnecessarily could be quite costly.
David Emerling
Memphis, TN
[Edited by David Emerling on Oct 27th, 2005 at 01:05 AM]
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Last time I checked, the batter is part of the offense. The catcher would only throw to first if the batter was running. The catcher knows whether the ball touched the ground or not. The catcher also knows that when in doubt tag the runner anyway.
If anyone is at a disadvantage on a non-call it is the offense. But then even the batter knows that if the pitch is low, that they can't take a chance and will run anyway.
In last night's World Series, there was a non-call on a dropped third strike and no one is up in arms about it this morning.
Plain and simple, the defense screwed up by leaving the field.