CR/SFG Catcher or Batter Interference?

[SAump]

I have attached a link of the manager's comments. I wish I knew how to attach a link to the video replay before it disappears. Perhaps someone out there may know how to do that. I will attach a link to the Rockies home page on mlb.com. Look for: Barmes' batter interference: 350K

http://colorado.rockies.mlb.com/NASA...=.jsp&c_id=col

http://colorado.rockies.mlb.com/NASA...x.jsp?c_id=col

The manager discusses a problem concerning a check-swing.

[johnnyg08]

ump25...are you a fortune teller? and how many times do you see hitters swing at pitches that they shouldn't swing at? Using that logic, you can't possibly rule BI here...that was a pitch that could have been hit...probably not hit very well, but it could have been hit...you don't know what he was thinking unless you are the hitter!

[UMP25]

Your argument is ridiculous. Umpires are often left with the unenviable task of trying to figure out what a player is thinking. Pitchers throwing at batters is one of the most common examples. Using your logic, we are never to warn or eject someone, since we don't know what a pitcher is thinking.

Baseball players will find every way they can to gain an often unfair advantage, and if it wasn't for the umpires, they'd get away with it every time. There's no way Barmes was making a normal or legitimate attempt to contact the ball for a hit. He was trying to screw up the catcher; therefore, he gets penalized for interfering.

[GarthB]

Originally Posted by johnnyg08

ump25...are you a fortune teller? and how many times do you see hitters swing at pitches that they shouldn't swing at? Using that logic, you can't possibly rule BI here...that was a pitch that could have been hit...probably not hit very well, but it could have been hit...you don't know what he was thinking unless you are the hitter!

That's why umpires get the big bucks.

As HHH has written in the past, there is precident for a ML umpire ruling that a swing is not an attempt.

With a 2-2 count, a batter swung weakly at a wild pitch that was way over his head enroute to the backstop. Figuring he just had strike three on an uncaught pitch, he took off for first. The plate ump brought him back ruling that he did not attempt to hit the pitch.

If he had gotten away with it, you can bet his next at bat would have ended by HBP.

edited to correct typo

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by GarthB

If he had gotten away with it, you can bet his next at bat would have ended by HPB.

Or even an HBP.

[DG]

How many times have you seen a player swing at a pitchout, with a runner running, and it be a legitimate attempt to hit the ball?

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by DG

How many times have you seen a player swing at a pitchout, with a runner running, and it be a legitimate attempt to hit the ball?

How many times have you seen it?

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by DG

How many times have you seen a player swing at a pitchout, with a runner running, and it be a legitimate attempt to hit the ball?

And how many times does that "swing" result in interference? This time it might have, and it was called.

(Full disclosure: I didn't see the play, so I'm not giving my opionion of it. But, I can imagine such a situation where such a call would be the "right" one.)

[johnnyg08]

He still has a right to attempt to hit the ball...pitchers throwing at hitters and this sitch is apples and oranges...we've all been around the game long enough to in MLB when pitchers are throwing at hitters...this was a one time thing...it's not like hitters were doing this the entire game! We can agree to disagree here...that is CI all the way...the only way I would call this exact play BI...would be if the hitter swung ridiculously early or late.

[johnnyg08]

By the way....the batter has no clue that it's a pitchout probably until the last moment where he will decide to swing at the pitch or not...hitters are trained on a hit and run to swing at anything...the batter here made a legit, legal attempt at the pitch here...hitters swing and miss at pitches all the time. In a sitch like this...no matter what the call will be 50% of the players on the field and in the dugout will be pissed...I guess we can agree to disagree...just because this umpire is MLB, doesn't make his call 100% correct, interference/obstruction/etc...are judgement calls...all of what's been said on here is relevant and that's what makes umpiring great...if you know the rules, you have the power/authority to make judgement calls that often times lead to arguments by players/managers on each team. If this was my call, I'm calling interference and not one person on this board can say it would be the wrong call...just like I probably wouldn't argue a whole lot if an umpire called BI...but in my judgement, this is CI, not BI...