Balk

[Carl Childress]

Originally Posted by Sal Giaco

A quick question Rich - Am I the only one who thought that a pitcher has to step off the rubber in order to make an appeal? Most of us do not have the MLBUM so if you did not show us that, my explanation would have been correct.

I just saw the video and that's what the announcers were also saying (ofcourse we all know that's not worth much). The batter also pointed at Pettite as soon as he did it as did AH who pointed at him as well, then called time and pointed the runner over. Then when Pettitte tried to do it the "correct" way, AH simply shook his head as if to say No, you can't appeal it now/again".

Perhaps AH missed that paragraph in the MLBUM and if that interpretation is not written anywhere else, we all would have ruled it the same way. What do you guys think?

Sal: You also don't have the BRD because that is covered, of course, in my book.

Before making an appeal, the only reason the pitcher needs to go to the pitcher's plate is when the ball is dead.

This ball never became dead, clearly, or Angel could not have called a balk at all.

Andy didn't need to KNOW anything except he wanted to appeal. He did, properly, and if Angel balked him for throwing to an unoccupied base, he will have heard about long before now.

I plan to email the union office and get their (Rick Roder's) take on this.

As someone pointed out, it's almost always best to think Angel blew it.

[Sal Giaco]

Originally Posted by Carl Childress

Sal: You also don't have the BRD because that is covered, of course, in my book.

Before making an appeal, the only reason the pitcher needs to go to the pitcher's plate is when the ball is dead.

This ball never became dead, clearly, or Angel could not have called a balk at all.

Andy didn't need to KNOW anything except he wanted to appeal. He did, properly, and if Angel balked him for throwing to an unoccupied base, he will have heard about long before now.

I plan to email the union office and get their (Rick Roder's) take on this.

As someone pointed out, it's almost always best to think Angel blew it.

Then I guess we can add (if it already isn't in there) that a pitcher must step off the rubber before he throws to make an appeal to the 25 Common misconceptions of Baseball (ie hands are part of the bat, tie goes to the runner, etc)

[Carl Childress]

Originally Posted by Sal Giaco

Then I guess we can add (if it already isn't in there) that a pitcher must step off the rubber before he throws to make an appeal to the 25 Common misconceptions of Baseball (ie hands are part of the bat, tie goes to the runner, etc)

Yep. Only I thought it was 40. (Jim Booth, eTeamz)