Quote:
Originally posted by Dakota
No matter how you try to cook this goose, the fact remains that the rules, such as they are, on timed games in ASA are so vague and the penalty so severe that you aren't going to find too many umpires who will enforce the penalty of a forfeit.
If ASA really wants umpires to stop the stalling and/or hastening tactics, they should add some words to make it clear when the forfeit should be enforced and when it should not, and provde a more rational way of officiating the rule than the pile driver to crack a nut penalty.
I don't know where you get from the rule on forfeits that only illegal acts are covered. It just says "tactics." Yet, in an ASA national tournament, the UIC allowed a team to change pitchers several times in a row, complete with warm up pitches, with none throwing an actual pitch.
That, to me, is more blatent and more "heinous" & "obvious" (to use David's words) than a mere leaving early violation. I'm sorry, but killing 3-4 minutes with successive pitcher warmups, while legal, is more abusive of the timed game rules than forcing the 3rd out. In the first case, no play can happen - it is a pure stall - while in the second case, at least the players still determine the outcome.
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The example you give of a team continuously changing pitchers, in baseball, would never be permitted because there is a rule that covers that kind of silliness. OBR 3.05(b) "If the pitcher is replaced, the substitute pitcher shall pitch to the batter then at bat, or any substitute batter, until such batter is put out or reaches first base, or until the offensive team is put out, unless the substitute pitcher sustains injury or illness which, in the umpire-in-chief's judgment, incapicitates him for further play as a pitcher."
ASA has no such rule. Therefore, a team is not breaking the rules when they do this. That is a glaring loophole in the ASA rules!
What can you do when a team calls "time out" for a conference with the pitcher when there are 2 outs, 1 minute left on the clock, no runners on base, and the pitcher is doing great? Nothing! You can't deny them their right to call "time out." It's legal.
You think changing pitchers takes a long time? Change pitchers
and catchers and you're talking a good 5 minutes.
This is all very different from a team
violating the rules in order to hasten or slow the pace of the game to their advantage. Leaving the base early is an
illegal act the penalty for which is that the runner is called out.
ASA 10-1-L directly addresses how violations of the rules can be overruled if the the violation is to the offending team's advantage. In fact, it doesn't even mention whether the act needs to be intentional or not. If it is clearly intentional, (like a coach yelling "Get off! Get off!") it makes that call all that much easier, in my opinion.
In my runner leaving early scenario, the umpire has a more palatable option rather than issuing a forfeit under ASA 5-4. He can invoke ASA 10-1-L and allow the offense to continue to bat. Put the runner back on base. They can still catch up! Although they are down 5-1 in the last inning - nonetheless, they have a runner on base and still have an out remaining. Play ball!
Yet, I'll agree with you. The ASA needs to give some caseplay examples of how they envision some of these rules to be enforced. I'd love to see a caseplay involving the utilization of ASA 10-1-L. I'd be curious to see what they had in mind when they constructed that rule.
The reality of timed games, as opposed to 7-inning games, needs to be addressed more specifically. In the meantime, I think an umpire is free to make any fair interpretation based on the written rules.
Who's to argue with him - especially when there is a rule that indicates that his ruling is justified? ... albeit, that the rule has no supporting interpretations.
David Emerling
Memphis, TN