Balk, Protest, Balk, EJ

[njdevs00cup]

Originally Posted by TussAgee11

What a nightmare I had tonight. I'm BU.

R1, R3, 2 out. RHP steps directly towards 3rd but does not "fake" towards third with his arm. He then, all in one motion, turns and has R1 picked off. I yell "BALK", point at the pitcher, then put both hands up indicating TIME! PU doesn't realize this, with all the yelling going on. R3 breaks for home and is called out, I then yell at my partner that I had a balk.

DC comes out, wants an explanation. I give it - the pitcher never faked to third and all in one motion turned to make the play on R1. The "argument" is calm and civil, after 30 seconds or so I walk away and say "let's play". All the while assistant coach is standing behind DC not saying much, just listening. PU never came and steered him away.

Then, both of them get close to the dugout, then manager yells "get help." After piping him up, he goes to PU, to which they were talking for a good 90 seconds. Next thing I know, PU calls me in, says they are protesting the game. I am a bit annoyed that this situation is still going on, but keep my mouth shut.

A few innings later, R2 and R3. RHP decides to go from "windup" for an IBB (why, I have no idea). He has both hands just at his sides, ball in his right hand. His body was not directly facing the plate, so I am thinking that he is going from the set. His set position all night was extremely open, and then he would bring his hands together and close it up. But here, he just started to pitch. I balked it. Here comes DC again. Now, I'm annoyed.

DC was one of these passive aggressive coaches. He gets run a fair amount, but always makes it look like its never his fault. I told him it was a balk, always will be a balk. I did a bit of explaining, short phrases. After 30 seconds or so, I simply turned and walked away. When I got to 5 or 10 feet, I turned back around. He was not satisfied with my explanation, as he turned away to go back to dugout he said "you're terrible."

All things considered, the prolonged argument before, the attitude, and the personal comment, I dumped him.

PU started the game back up before he got out of the dugout .

Irritating - I just hope the league doesn't listen to this guys garbage on this protest, but I guess I shouldn't care.

Sorry to hear about the long night. It doesn't sound like your partner did you any favors. Doesn't sound like grounds for a protest if you are playing FED dead ball balks.

[TussAgee11]

Originally Posted by njdevs00cup

Sorry to hear about the long night. It doesn't sound like your partner did you any favors. Doesn't sound like grounds for a protest if you are playing FED dead ball balks.

OBR...

The protest came because they thought I was wrong about the pitcher having to make that full feint towards third before wheeling to first. For some reason, they felt my explanation wasn't backed by rules, which I believe it is.

[JR12]

A step is a legal fake. Arm motion is not required.

[Steven Tyler]

Sounds like you blew both balk calls.

[UmpJM]

Tuss,

I wasn't there, but from your description, I believe you "kicked" both of these calls and the coaches had just cause to be upset with your rulings.

As JR12 astutely points out, on an "in contact" feint to 3B, a "step" IS required, but a "throwing motion" is not.

...His body was not directly facing the plate, so I am thinking that he is going from the set. ...

Whether the pitcher's body is "....directly facing the plate..." is not a material question. His starting foot position IS.

JM

[JR12]

Thanks, JM

[njdevs00cup]

Originally Posted by njdevs00cup

Sorry to hear about the long night. It doesn't sound like your partner did you any favors. Doesn't sound like grounds for a protest if you are playing FED dead ball balks.

I agree that they may not have been balks, but this does not sound like grounds for a protest.

[Ump153]

Originally Posted by njdevs00cup

I agree that they may not have been balks, but this does not sound like grounds for a protest.

Misapplication of the rules is normally grounds for a protest.

[cbfoulds]

Originally Posted by njdevs00cup

I agree that they may not have been balks, but this does not sound like grounds for a protest.

Uh: wrong on the Rule? Sounds like EXACTLY grounds for a protest.