Quote:
Originally Posted by jkumpire
Rich I is not a rat here, and while he is tending to be a little OOO on this subject he has a point.
We do have too many umpires who are not enforcing rules, they are taking the easy way out, and teams will let them get away with it.
IMO, if he hits the black he scores, and in a perfect world the black shouldn't exist to be seen on a field. Rich believes that the runner did not score because he did not touch the plate, and strictly by rule we can all see he has a case, however tenuous you believe it to be.
If he is wanting to go to the mat with a team on an appeal of home because he makes that call, I can live with that. If he has to wack the manager and the player and one or two other guys for it, great. At least he has the guts to make and stick with the call he believes he should make in that situation. As a partner in the locker room I would tell him I disagree with his judgment, but on the field, I'd back him 100%.
Having said all that, I appeal to Rich I here, reconsider. If the black part of the plate is exposed, how can it not be part of the plate on that field? Your arguments about the base are weak IMO, since on any field (except for one I saw this summer where they were half buried), every field has a base that sits totally on top of the dirt of the infield. They don't move, they are anchored from underneath in an exposed position. There is no extra set of edges exposed. Home plates are a different matter entirely.
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Several points:
1) The catcher saw the miss. That's why he appealed. He knows the runner didn't touch the plate.
2) The base coaches (runner's own team) saw the miss. That's why they didn't go nuts. They know their runner didn't touch the plate.
3) The black isn't part of the plate because the rule defining the plate says it's only the white part.
Now we have a bunch of folks saying "close enough". Really? "Close enough"? Right coach, the throw was almost in time and your runner only barely beat it so it was close enough and your runner is out.
For the play at hand:
So if you call "safe" the defense manager is in your face.
And if you call "out" the offense manager is in your face.
So your only choice is "which manager do I want in my face".
Who screwed up - the catcher or the runner?
Why on earth do you want to reward the runner for a screwup and punish the catcher for wanting a legitimate out?
Call it right.
Why is this so hard to comprehend?