[greymule]

It is not the ump's job to call attention to a team's batting out of order. A team can bat out of order, bat in reverse order, skip batters, send somebody up twice in a row, all night as long as the defense doesn't appeal.

The lineup you were given at the beginning of the game is the lineup. Nobody can change the order because the team batted out of order the first time around.

No matter how different from the lineup the team actually bats, after one pitch to any batter, the legal batter is the one who followed the batter who batted last. If #7 bats instead of #4, one pitch to whoever is next in the box makes #7's at bat legal and establishes #8 as the proper batter, no matter who was skipped.

Sometime in the 1970s the Pirates were at Shea Stadium to play the Mets, and before the game the two teams filmed some action to be part of some movie that Walter Matthau was in. In the movie, Stargell batted and then Bonds (let's say—I can't remember who the players actually were). Problem was, Stargell batted ahead of Bonds in the real game, too, though the manager had handed the ump a lineup with Bonds ahead of Stargell. So the Mets let the Pirates bat out of order twice through the lineup. The third time around, Stargell got a key hit. The Mets appealed, and Bonds—not Stargell—was called out. (Note that the Mets had to wait until Stargell completed his time at bat.) With Bonds out for failing to bat when he should have, Stargell, the next legal batter, batted.

Notice that the umps didn't say anything until the Mets appealed. Amazing that no one caught it for so long.