[bobbybanaduck]

first off, call TIME. i don't know where this ball's dead thing started or how it perpetuates, but it's obnoxious. now, on to your situation. seeing as you did all you could do in listening and then reading the batter's reaction (which appear to me to point in opposite directions) i don't have any issue with you going to see if your partner has anything to add to what went on. what i would suggest, is that after speaking with your partner, you go directly to the coach/manager that is not going to benefit from your decision. upon reaching him, inform him,

"skip, here's the deal. the catcher stood up in front of me and completely blocked my view of the batter. i heard the distinctive sound of the ball hitting the bat, but, since i was blocked out, i talked with my partner to see if he saw anything that would result in sending your guy to first. he didn't, so we're going with a foul ball because the clink of that bat is all the info i've got to go on cuz i was blocked out."

my reasoning for this is that one of the skippers is going to be pissed no matter what you do. by going over to him and explaining what just happened you are eliminating the scenario of informing him long distance; which in turn is going to result in him arguing long distance. that will be followed by either you approaching him or, more likely, him approaching you to discuss it further. if you do it in the fashion that i suggested above, you have eliminated the intermediate long distance argument that will inevitably take place before the face to face argument.

now, no doubt he is still going to be pissed, but, you have already informed him of what happened, what you heard, what your partner saw, and that you did everything you could to get his guy to first base if he did indeed get hit by the pitch. furthermore, you've already begun the conversation at close range and in a civil tone without the raising of voices simply to be heard from 100 feet away. if he wants to talk/argue a little at close range, he can probably have a bit of slack on his leash. however, if he tries to go ballistic on you, you've got the, "we've done everything we could do to get the call right" bullet in your gun. obviously you'll let him have his say, but, if he begins to overstep use that bullet and get the game moving again.

for a demonstration point of view, have a role playing conversation with yourself in both styles. first try doing it where you meet with your partner then just call a foul ball. now you've gotta talk loud or yell down at him to tell him what you have, or to tell him to stop yelling and just talk to you, followed by getting together with him to discuss after both of your guards are up cuz you've already gotten a little heated.

now try it the way i suggest and see how the conversations differ. role playing is fun.