Quote:
Originally Posted by AtlUmpSteve
This is a case where I would "mention" to her coach as he goes around me the next time that it would be a good thing if he made sure her hands were fully separated when she initially steps on. Suggesting that she's "close" to an illegal pitch for a double touch, and that "someone might not use the same good judgment as me, so far" seems to get them to have that conversation.
Even if that is the wrong (not pitching) coach, I've had good success with getting the message across to clean it up, rather than make the borderline call. If they ignore it, I then call the next more aggregious instance, and usually get the "well, he did warn us" reaction, more than the "that's tickytack" comment it might receive.
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I agree with this approach. In particular the part I noted.
In my opinion, this is an example of a situation where a little game management can go a long way, as opposed to being a "rules nazi" (no intended offense to anyone reading).
I've seen too many situations where an umpire is technically, by the letter of the rule, making the right call blow up into a mess of a game.
By no means am I advocating being a GAGA umpire. It's a fine line that many umpires just haven't discovered the location of.