Quote:
Originally Posted by goodcall
I was at the clinic monday night when this was asked and we had some excellent discussion about what to do about this.
Initially, after some hesitation since the pitch had already been thrown, we were convinced that we had one out for the runner passing another runner. If the umpires don't see it before the pitch is thrown, and the game is allowed to continue with no penalty, then it's the lady scorekeeper who will likely catch it when they cross the plate so then what are you going to do?
Getting two outs because you also have the runner running the bases backwards (that is if he did run back to first and you saw it) seems to clean everything up but it wasn't something anyone had said as a solution that night. The three ejections described in this thread went way beyond what any of us had mentioned but that should effectively put an end to anyone else trying such a thing and making a travesty out of the game. The two outs might adequately serve the same purpose though just as we would do on an interference for a double play when no one would need to be tossed. Though no one could argue tossing them, this may be a decision the federation may need to decide on what is best in such a situation.
The hit in my view stands just as it would when someone bats out of order and the next pitch is thrown.
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I don't think the next pitch legalizes blatant cheating like this. Any runner who is on the wrong base following a conference is going to be out, either for passing or running the bases in reverse. They will also be EJed along with any coach who participated in the conference. The batter didn't cheat so I'll let his at-bat stand.
I'm going to do my level best to enforce a penalty - within the rules - that sticks it as far up the O's butt as I can reach.
Bring on the protest. I can hardly wait.