Did he balk?

[tballump]

Thought I read somewhere that if you see clear daylight between the toe of the pivot foot and the heal of the non-pivot or free foot you have the step taken care of with a lefthanded pitcher.

No daylight would mean no step towards first and probably also mean a step towards home. Since there was daylight, it would seem the only question might be, did he "lean" in towards home or did the non-pivot foot pass the rubber in which case the 1st base umpire would have a better view than anyone else.

It also looked like the runner was going with the first movement (gambling) regardless of whether the pitcher was going home or going to 1st, although Madden said he wasn't. The runner just ducked his head when he was called out at second and didn't even question or make even a slight hand motion (they are great at those hand motions) about a possible balk.

[realistic]

Distance and direction are the two things needed when stepping to first. His foot pointed to first base and his foot moved to first base. It doesn't matter how much. TB wanted the call because they got fooled. JM argued that the pitcher's ordinary move (I think he said "read") was not what he did. It doesn't matter. I thought Tim Welke handled it perfectly.