[briancurtin]

Originally Posted by GarthB

You might as well say, "Okay, have your players guess what a strike is and feel free to chirp as the spirit moves you."

you never stop making me laugh, garth.

Originally Posted by gruberted

I said in the beginning of the game, strike zone is big have the kids swing the bats not many walks today.

try not doing this. i was taught back when i was just starting that if a coach asks about the zone in pre-game, you can respond with "you can find the strike zone in the book, coach." being that the zone is in the book, i wouldnt come right out and tell coaches you are going to disobey the rule book and make the zone enlarged. while some have wider zones, taller zones, book zones, etc...keep our zone to yourself and call it.

Originally Posted by gruberted

I called anything that was close but he was complaining about pitches that were hitting the plate and so on and so forth. So again I took off my mask and told him that was outside.

if you are calling anything that is close, you are going to start calling pitches that are close to being close. then before you know it, the zone consists of any pitch that leaves the pitchers hand. nail down a zone, stick to it. the one in the rule book often works.

also, dont tell this guy where pitches are at. he can use his eyes, depth perception...and the one thing people NEVER use, the catcher. the catcher can tell you just by how he moved where the ball went. let the coach figure it out, its not your job to tell him where his pitches are missing.

Originally Posted by gruberted

He continued to complain to his other coaches. Where do you draw the line to toss this coach as I may have him again later this week.

its hard to say since you opened up a few doors that shouldnt have been opened.

Originally Posted by gruberted

Finally, when coaches don't have the catchers ready or don't even use the speed up rule and they wait until the pitcher has thrown warm up pitches are you allowed to give a delay of game warning for the team. (This league is quite bad with no urgency to hussle, which I blame the coaches for, and the kids take one shin guard 5 minutes to put on. One of my fellow umpires issued a warning and said next time you will start with an out in your half inning. Is that correct?

i thought delay of game was a 5 yard penalty?
unless this is stated in a league's rules, you cant just makeup penalties like that. sure, everyone likes a game to keep moving, but you cant just say "well your catcher wasnt out here, so he has to take his cup out and catch without it" and make things up.