Better Games make one a better umpire

[joemoore]

I did a game tonight, 13 yr old BR league. In first inning one team's ace pitcher struggled to get the ball below the batter's chest and gave up a number of walks. They griped at a few pitches and after a while his control really got bad.

The final was 13-3 ended by the mercy rule. Before the score was so lopsided, I called batter's interference when a batter's overswing took him into the catcher's attempted throw. And in the game there was a triple play.

I refused to talk myself into expanding the strike zone (though I admit I gave in on a few close pitches). My partner, on an easy force play at 2nd base, called a runner (from the winning team) safe when the fielder was clearly off the bag. The runner started walking to the dugout and was tagged out.

Of course, I knew that after 8PM it starts to get dark, so it wasn't going to be much over 2 hours.