How is your mechanic...

[thumpferee]

Kaliix, good point but...

my strike and out is similiar. I stand and call strike with no swing using a fist rather than a point. On a swinging strike there is obvously no verbal but again I use a fist signal as I point to the batter. The only real difference is the heighth. On a strike my signal is lower and more toward the front, an out for me is higher and more over the shoulder.

[Carl Childress]

Originally posted by jicecone
That is exactly what you should be doing. Preventive umpiring. Letting the batter know that they are out and saving the arguments after the fact because no one is thinking, but just reacting.

I almost always will state "On the swing, Batter is out, batter is out".

The most humorus coach is the one that comes out to try and explain that at the time that the batter struck out, first base was not occupied because they had a steal on and his player was on the way to second.??????????????????????????????

First, I agree with Jicecone. Coaches are always trying to convince someone the batter can run because R1 is "already halfway to second."

Second, I've written an article about this subject. Tomorrow (21 May) you may read that piece, whether you're a subscriber or not. Click the URL: http://baseball.officiating.com/x/article/3798

[Jeff Davis]

The thing that worries me here is that the BU didn't know the sitch. Seems that the two umpires didn't have good team signals/mechanics. For instance, before every batter, and every change of situation, if BU is inside then PU and BU exchange signals (can you say pre-game?). That way, both umpires KNOW how many outs and the sitch. No surprises (like this one for the BU) makes for easier and smoother games.

Rick