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1) The fielding team coach asks me to appeal to my partner, so I do.
If I am unsure enough to go to my partner, I will go with his or her call. If I am sure of the call I made, my response is, "Coach, there is no need to go to my partner who was way done at home plate. I was right on it and saw it perfectly."
2)...so I go with "never guess an out".
I don't like working with partners that come to me on their calls, but if they do I will never guess an out either. (And you obviously know already that your partner didn't see an out.) If the coach asks me about it I will tell the coach straight forward that I was 60 feet away but did not see an out. If the coach then asks why my partner came to me, I will tell the coach I don't know that answer, and direct him or her to my partner for an answer.
3)... but calling it makes us inconsistent.
I'd call it. Better than being consistently wrong. I'm imagining that if the other umpire was ruling "the hands are part of the bat", "tie goes to the runner" and "a ball hitting home plate is a foul", that you would not hesitate in calling it properly during your game.
4)Bats were checked before the game
That is just a percursory examination by the umpiring crew and does not relieve the teams from their responsibility to play with legal equipment. If they introduce a bat that was not checked, or if they are using illegal equipment that was not previously noticed, they are still at risk of having the penalty called against them if it is noticed.
Just my opinion.
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Dan
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