[HawkeyeCubP]

Backwards K in ASA SP is to be called no different that called strike 2, according to the UIC and staff of the last national I worked.

A. I personally feel, however 1) that it is somewhat ridiculous to take a called strike 3 in that game, and 2) if it was some amazing pitch that is the equivalent of a good defensive play for which you would award at least a punch of a sell-out somewhere else on the field, why not do it then?

B. How is taking a called strike three any different, ideologically and semantically, from taking a called strike three in a FP game? Why is it "unnecessary" extra showmanship in one, but not in the other? To anyone who says you're "showing up the batter" in one but not the other, or vice versa, please explain.

I've never received anything close to a good answer to B from any other SP umpire who argues against it - always just the old "we're not here to show up the batter" - To which I always want to reply, "That's weird, because you jump out of your shoes and holler loud enough for the scoreboard operator outside of the center field fence when you call a 12-year-old girl out for the same thing."

Those things being said, I don't sell out called strike 3 in SP.