Quote:
Originally posted by dadbuc
This reply is written by head coach R. Weber, and assistant coaches R. Thomsen and Z. Buchan, coaches of Maple City Glen Lake the losing team in this game. ...
hits a homerun to left center. The third base coach falls over in astonishment, and the team goes crazy jumping up and down forming a circle around home plate yelling and cheering. The runner from third base comes in to home plate almost doing a skip in excitement along with the other players jumping around home plate, and the Glen Lake assistant coach points out to other coaches that the runner from third base missed home plate. ...
Seems to be the beginning of confidence here - one coach telling another what he thinks he didn't see
The players now circle around home plate and begin congratulating the runner on first by slapping hands and making other contact in fair territory before the runner crosses home plate. The batter is mobbed just before he touches home plate, and proceeded through the pile to touch home plate. As coaches we can appreciate the excitement, but the runner on third missed home plate, and all other runners touched home plate with out the runner on third touching home plate, this should be the third out, game over. ...
Confidence building
Coaches R. Weber and Z. Buchan both came out to appeal to the umpire about the runner from third base missing home plate. The home plate umpire heard the appeal and went to confer with the base umpire. The base umpire told the home plate umpire that the game was over, then the homeplate umpire looked at both coaches and told them that the game was over...
sounds like a rookie conferring with his partner
again no explanation was ever made to us whether the runner on third touched home plate or not.
Not so confident
We don't think the runner on third touched the plate, and the umpire never let us know if he did or did not.
No confidence. Relying upon umpire judgement.
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Perhaps the umpires WERE CONFIDENT that he touched the plate.
You know, it is a relevantly easy task to keep the players back from the baseline. For the base umpire to follow the BR all the way to home. For the plate umpire to keep the players back and to watch the runners touch their respective bases.
In my humble opinion, the umpires screwed this up by allowing the players onto the field and not ensuring that all the required runners (to win the game) touch their bases. Yes, the runner has responsibility to touch all the bases too. The umpire however, can create the environment that makes it very obvious to the runner to fulfill his responsibility - "Touch them all" and to make it obvious to the other player to also allow this completion.
The umpires created this confusion. If the umpires now reverse the homerun (Yes, they will catch a tremendous amount of flack, but) it is the "winning" team that will be penalized and not the umpires.
I feel the umpires also have the responsibility to ensure the winning team complies with all the rules to confirm their victory. They need to watch the winning run score. Or as some of you have suggested is acceptable... the victory was confirmed when the homerun was hit; pack it up and get gone before trouble starts. I personally don't like this option - for obvious reasons. These umpires seemed to do neither option and stayed around to help celebrate. WRONG MOVE!
Our job is a serious one ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE END. Control the game. And that includes the players and their access to the field.
Spirit of fair play says let them have the win. Umpiring mechanics says ensure that there is no confusion so that they complete the base running requirements to earn the win.
Either the umpires were confident that the bases were touched or they hosed it.... I'm thinking probably hosed but possibly both confident and hosed.