Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy
Curious....how do you know that you will have one of these games?
What is the "modified C" position anyway?
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Experience is your first clue. The next clue is when they walk the bases loaded to start the game. Another might be that the catcher hasn't even attempted to throw a runner out trying to steal. Some teams are poor enough that the coaches agree not to steal so that they can keep the force on in hopes of getting an out - that tends to eliminate the pick off at 3rd base.
In these types of games, virtually all of the outs come at 1st base and a few may come at 3rd base. So we allow the umpire to move just to the 1st base side of 2nd base. It's basically a philosophy of going where the action is, rather than standing 90 feet away from it the whole game.
If things change, umpires should adjust, the same way players adjust to the situation at hand (or at least ought to).