Batter abandons batters box

[mcrowder]

I can't even imagine using 7.3.1 to call a strike on a batter who simply had the count wrong. In fact, if I have 2 strikes, and the batter starts heading for the dugout, I'm pretty sure I'm piping up with, "That's only 2 strikes, batter."

7.3.1 should be used (predominantly) when batter refused to enter the box when you tell him to. Not when he's just innocently mistaken (especially in a case like the one posted, where it's actually at least partially the umpire's fault for the confusion).