Actually, the coach has every right to come out and ask questions about that call. I have no problem with coaches that I know do not step over the line doing a little yelling and screaming provided that they don't repeat questions, and don't question my judgment.

My job isn't to jack a guy just because he is carrying on a bit. I have been around the argument block more than my fair share of times, and have enough years working with coaches in this area to know who some of the good guys and bad guys are. I don't play "pattycake" with anybody. But it is my call to decide when the discussion is over, not my partners! In this particular case, the argument was not very long, and it was constructive, and he had no business cutting in.

As much as it is up to me to decide when a coach is done "discussing" a call with me, it is also up to my partner to decide when he wants to run a guy. You can't have it both ways! Either you can say it is okay for your partner to cut in on something, or it isn't. If my partner heard what was said to him and didn't throw the coach, I sure as heck ain't gonna do it for him!

It is easy to have hard and fast rules about umpiring, but the longer I do this, the more I respect that each situation has it's own unique dynamic to it. I used to be a quick to eject umpire, and it only stressed me out being that way. What has worked far better for me is to work towards keeping people in the game, even if that means it appears I didn't get the "upper hand" in the situation. There are times when letting a coach rant a bit works out very well, and the better you know the coaches you are working with, the better you are at determining when enough is enough. It is just not the same in every situation!

I worked with an ex AAA umpire last year in a game that started to get pretty heated from one side. Lots of little things going on. Comments from the dugout, catcher getting a bit mouthy, hitters making comments. Finally, a guy got thrown. The manager came out, and a HUGE prolonged argument ensued. I was standing 20 or so feet away and could not hear a word being said because the crowd was so loud telling him to eject the manager. He didn't, and not another incident with that team happened in that game! I thought for sure he was going to jack this manager, but he didn't, and the manager got control of his ball club. In another game, I seen him eject an assistant rather quickly, and the manager didn't even come out on it. No problems after that either.

I guess what I am getting at is that in both cases, I would have been inclined to do opposite of what he did, and that may or may not have worked for me. But after his 25 years of professional ball, he had a pretty good handle on when it was appropriate and even desirable to allow a confrontation to go a little long, and when a quick boot would serve the game well! It worked for him, and the players and coaches mostly showed great respect towards this guy!

So, don't be so quick to judge a situation that you didn't attend, especially when the way the person handled it worked out. All this typing out of situations on a bulletin board NEVER comes close to painted the most accurate picture of what really happened, and when it comes to handling situations, there is a lot of room for "You had to have been there" to come into play to fully appreciate how the person handled it!

Peace out bros.