[MikeStrybel]

I find a few of the responses pretty funny. Like our crews here in Illinois, the Connecticut crew that worked this game usually works the two man system during the regular season. Was the PU out of textbook position? Yes. Was he in position to see the call that he had to make? Yes. There is no perfect position for baseball umpiring. Also, tossing the head coach for being animated in that situation is asinine. The assistant coach gets less rope though and may have earned a trip home. As for the term 'drift', it means to be out of position by virtue of habit. The PU drifted away from his proper position and it may have been as a result of not working enough 4 man games (who does?). If you are always in the proper position for every call and every play, good for you.

In response to a the query about getting the call right, if you don't know why I mentioned what get the call right means to MLB umpires, that's a shame. The very best umpires in the world know that umpiring is all about getting the call right, not about looking good doing it. They would rather institute instant replay in order to ensure this than pretend that their positioning is good enough.

Bob understood my post just fine. In response to Rich, I provided an anecdote about backing players off the plate. I know Rich to be a good umpire and was merely relating how our best intentions can injure the game. I asked Dave if he could cite a rule that allowed umpires to prevent players from taking the field during a dead ball. I know there is none. So does Bob.

RichMSN, I like the response...I still hold up a hand on big HRs and know better. I like to stand just in front of the plate, to watch the touch and then give the catcher the ball before I dust off the dish. Being there makes my every movement and advice visible.

DaveReed, I saw the fourth umpire. Thank you for pointing that out. I have searched for the box scores and see no umpires listed. The first base umpire was actually doing his job by rodeo clowning people away.

zm283, sorry but we disagree. I provided a specific example of where it can bite you in the a-- and the coach was right. If you tell players to stay back, it may be for your good but it is also preventing an infraction from occuring. You just gave one team an advantage. I related the story (in another thread - just so you can follow along) of how, long ago, I would subtly point at a base when a runner touched it, especially home. I had seen some college partners do it and picked up the (bad) habit. A coach realized what I was doing and caught me when I saw a guy miss one. He immediately appealed and then had the balls to tell me that I told him that the runner missed by my actions. Never again.

I'm sorry for doing what happens in almost every thread here. I added a dimension to the original play and it caused some confusion. It wasn't a big deal. I asked for clarification on something that was written. I could have written the typical, "Try again." or "Be gone fan boy." but I wanted to see if Dave or Rich would admit that no rule allows us to keep players off the field during a dead ball celebration. My attempt to remind the board that interjecting in that situation was more wrong than being out of proper position on the missed touch at home. Well, not really...he got the call right.