[Gold_Spark]

All that I can say . . . is that I disagree. And again I'll say that the POINT of my post was to spread light on the fact that TIME isn't granted unless the umpire grants it.

You said this: "We need to know the history of rules when we are enforcing. The reason the 20 second rule exists is so that the game does not drag on needlessly. Normally all it takes is a warning to F1 and that will do the trick."

I said this: "The umpire could have refused to grant time and urged the pitcher to immediately return to the mound to deliver a pitch. THEN . . . we fall into your situation. If the pitcher then "dilly-dallies" around and doesn't do as asked, the umpire could enforce the 20 second rule."

No. I don't expect any umpire to time each and every pitch so to enforce the 20 second rule. And I agree that every rule has it's purpose. Overkill isn't good. Just like a football official could call holding on every play. I understand your logic.

Then again, you just can't FORGET the rule exists. You have to enforce the rule if need be. In my explanation, I believe the enforcement would be needed. That's all.