WHAT'S YOUR CALL!

[etbaseball]

Freix -

The only comment I'll make is this. The moment the ball passes by the plate it's a ball or a strike. Not one, two or three seconds later.

I agree that most umpires, the good ones, have the desired timing which will be, as you stated, delivered 1.5-2 seconds after the specific action in question. The proclamation of the umps decision should not, however, influence the time the pitch literally became a ball. As you know, quite often the batter will know immediately that the pitch was a ball and start moving towards first base.

I don't think that I would use the criteria that the umpire did not announce his call and, therefore, becuase he didn't rule, nothing can happen until he does. BTW the foundation behind the timing that we all stress is designed to allow the umpire a moments opportunity to mentally review the action which just occured. Had the umpire done that in the example stated, I doubt if he would have pointed and annouced interference.

So, considering that, along with the issue that the defense should be aware of 'game situations,' I would think that the only prudent action would be for the umpire to recognize that the 'easy sell' on this situation is a NO CALL for batter interference.

Remember the often used quote ... "don't go picking boggers." Here's a place where somebody picked something and then found it necessary to use 10-2-3g.