This is unlike you, Peter. Your question borders on booger pickin'.
You know you did the right thing in not allowing the pitcher's removal with the same batter at the plate. Did a 2nd trip occur by your details? You judged it did not. You judged the trip across the line was to you and not to the mound---the gray area of judgment.
Will a protest be upheld if filed?
That's up to the league to determine.
I've always felt most leagues attempt to support the official. IOW, in order to uphold a protest, the situation needed to be one where it was pretty evident the official blew an obvious interpretation, OR was in a situation of gray area interpretation but whereby the questioned decision had significant impact on the outcome of the game (i.e. reversal of the Brett incident). Leagues don't want protests, and upholding protests in gray areas is reinforcement to have more filed.
Now, with the Brett incident mentioned, I was quite surprised at its reversal.
The umpire (Tim McClelland) acted upon the defense's complaint, ruled the bat illegal by standards of that day, and imposed the appropriate penalty. I felt that to be a black/white issue at the time whereby the official was forced to rule based on the defense's complaint. The umpire didn't look to pick the booger. Although MacPhail's ruling reversed McClelland's ruling by stating the call was not in accordance with the intent and spirit of the rule-----the call on the field was still in accordance with the written rule. IMO, if the league felt it was a poor rule (or poorly written), then they should have upheld the call as being correct per the rule and changed the rule for the future.
Are umpires now to guess at the "intent and spirit" of a rule and decide accordingly, even when the situation obviously violates the written rule of the time? Apparently that would have been the correct choice for McClelland, but then the Yankees would have likely been filing the protest.
Applying CSFP works well in gray areas---such as your situation.
There are times when applying CSFP is very difficult---such as black/white issues exampled with McClelland's dilemma. Still, times will arise when we are damned if we do and damned if we don't, and we must decide whose target of damnation we will be.
Just my opinion,
Freix
|