Ever Umpired a Beat-Down Like This? 45-0!

[jicecone]

Originally Posted by billken

The real learning opportunity here is how do deal with it?

Do you expand the strike zone? If so, how much?

Do you initiate a conference with the winning coach and suggest bunting?

Do you stay out of it and just mop up the mess when kids start getting beaned and all hell breaks loose?

Can you invoke the "travesty of the game" clause and end it when everyone has had enough?

First of all every game is different. If you go to the game with pre-conceived idea of how it will turn out, you’re screwed from the get-go.

Secondly when officiating, although there is no rule reference for this, COMMON SENSE actually can be applied to many parts of the game.

Last night I showed up for a Varsity HS game got on the field a little early. First thing I noticed was that one team had only 10 players and the talent looked very, very thin. I had seen the home team before and knew their ability. The home team coach tells me that the last district game resulted is a 26-0 score and both teams agreed that 5 innings of play would actually end after 3 innings. My partner asks me how I was going to call the game. I told him, “one pitch at a time.” 1-1/2 hrs latter the game ended 14-0 after 5. The home team also knew that if they were going to stand at the plate and watch close pitches, they would be called strikes. They swung the bat.

Bottom line here, when all else fails use common sense. Don’t suggest anything about when a game should end, deal with it, your not going to turn into a pumpkin if you stand on the field too long. If players get beaned deal with it quickly just like any other game. And for heavens sake don’t make up rules like “travesty of the game “to end it.

Finally, (and don’t take this personnal), if officiating terrible baseball is a problem, then quit now.