College Word Series
 

Did anyone else see the called strike three on Rice's number three batter (tying runs on base in the 6th or 7th)? Why was the PU hiding behind the batter? I know it's not comfortable to stand there when the catcher is set up on the outside corner! He punched the kid out on a pitch in the opposite batter's box!

College Word Series?
 

Is this some kind of post-secondary spelling bee?

~sigh~
 

Painfully that appears to be the strike zone at the CWS in all games.

Regards,

I believe that was Dave Buck, too--a very good umpire and one hell of a good guy.

Anyone catch this evening's time play and the subsequent discussion between the announcers? I also liked how, when they were discussing the FPSR, they said pop-ups aren't allowed. :rolleyes:

At least Orel Herschiser (I think that's who that was) was man enough to say a couple of times 'I don't know the rule, but I thought...' instead of trying to convince everyone that he did (when he didn't).

I've also been very dissapointed with strikezones at the CWS. Just because the pitch is between the knees and the belt doesn't mean that the 17" wide plate instantly gets to 20" wide.

time play?
 

i only caught a bit of the time play sit on the highlights - what happened?

I saw this. Mike Patrick argued initially that the run did not count since the 3rd out was a "force play."

Barry Larkin then really stepped in it. He said that the NCAA needs to reconsider this rule since the offensive team did something against the rules , thus, no run should be allowed to count. Interesting. I assumed he simply disagreed with the appeal rule. Then he went on when they showed the replay again. He said "you have to give the runner credit for hustling. He took off and never stopped when he assumed it was going over the outfielder's head and hustled all the way around to score before the 3rd out" (or something to that effect). I actually rewound it to make sure I heard him correctly. I then realized he was under the impression that R1's run counted, even though he didn't tag and was called out at 1B, because he crossed home plate before the 3rd out was recorded.

He was royally confused.

One 1 out. R1 R3. Line drive hit to deep center field. R1 is off on contact and never slows down even though the ball is caught. R3 tags and scores before they throw to first to get R1. Announcers thought the run should not have counted.

That sequence officially certified Barry Larkin as more idiotic on rules than Joe Morgan.

The usual announcer "thinking" is that, since R1 is "forced" to retouch, the out on appeal at 1B is a force play and the run should not count.

I guess I should add that this "thinking" is wrong: this is an appeal play for the third out, and a time play at home.

Well, first, instead of following Orel's lead and waiting until someone could ask someone who knows the rules, Barry firmly stated that the UNC coach should 'protest the game' since the run was counted. :rolleyes:

Then, after the break, when Mike Patrick finally figured out he had it wrong, Barry tried to argue that this rule should be changed, because it gave an advantage to the offense! :rolleyes:

Orel responded, "welllll, since the baserunning error caused a double play and ended the inning, rather than the run scoring and there only being 2 outs, how could that be of benefit to the offense?"

Barry then changes the subject. :p