Quote:
Originally Posted by mroyal
C'mon, mbyron. I was being really sarcastic with the quoted question. I know that we continue to make judgments on intent continuously throughout a game.
With the OP, though, my judgment of intent differs from those above in that to me it has to do with the result of the play, or in this case the result of preventing a play. The thought that someone would penalize the catcher for not catching the ball (even though he blocked it and it's rebounding forward to the plate), but let the batter kick a ball that was clearly over the plate instead of avoiding it. I'm sure you wouldn't ding a batter for not completely moving out of the way of a pitch that comes thought the batters box. So, if I have a catcher that has blocked a pitch forward to the plate and is attempting to play that ball, I will protect his right to field the ball. The BR has the responsibility to avoid a ball in fair territory.
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So when the coach comes out to protest/argue your call, you will state that (in every case of this) the runner intentionally kicked the ball. Otherwise you are ruling contrary to the rule. This is not a good idea in my mind. As someone stated earlier, sometimes you have to umpire....