[greymule]

Any coach who tries to weasel more warmup pitches out of you at the start of the game is testing how far he can push you, trying to establish his dominance. Do you think this guy really believes that his pitcher will gain an advantage for every warmup pitch thrown past 8?

You will run into many of these coaches. Usually they are armchair "experts" who never played past youth leagues but watch TV and think they know the game. They try to tell you where you should have positioned yourself for a call. They try to throw rulebook technicalities at you. They nit-pick some faintly illegal motion of the opposing pitcher.

I had one of these types last night. Guy thinks a trapped third strike is caught. Also has no idea uncaught third strike doesn't apply with 1B occupied and less than 2 out. Tells me I should be running down the 1B line to call a play at 1B (one-man game). Whines about a girl who didn't slide, though she slowed considerably and barely bumped his catcher, who was standing square on the plate after the throw got past to the backstop. He also tried to claim that batters hit by pitches were not awarded 1B in that league—until the other coach brought out the league rules.

Don't try to accommodate these types in any way. They're not looking for fair play, they're looking to control you and the game.