warm up pitches

[MD Longhorn]

Rich, you took this question differently than I did, and seem focused on the fact that it's late in the game.

I would not allow them any pitches (OK, I confess ... my ACTUAL way of handling this is to tell the catcher to take it down as he's walking toward the catcher's box ... so I guess I give them 1 pitch)... but I would not allow them pitches if they did this in the bottom of the 1st either. They get their time between half innings, what they do with it is not my concern ... but they don't get that time and THEN get to also warm up.

[harmbu]

I wish you called games in my area. My team makes it a goal to be on the field, warmed up and ready to go within 45 seconds of the third out. Some of our opponents huddle with their coach, take their time getting on the field and warm up all without being told to pick up the pace by the umpire. On the occasions that an umpire looks at me during this process I look at my watch and say "we are ready." It always seems the umpires who allow this to happen are also the ones who complain about how long the games last.