Francisco Rodriguez bounce or stop?

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by jwwashburn

Is this tongue in cheek?

I think that "normal motion" clearly plays an enormous part in the way they call balks. No one said that "normal motion" is in the book.

What I was interested in with K-Rod is that he does it sometimes and not always. This is far worse than letting him get away with it if he did it every time. It gives him a huge advantage.

Joe

Not tongue in cheek, but based on pro instruction. I can't tell you what's in their heads, but I can tell you how they were taught to apply the balk rule.

If I had to speculate about why the "bounce" isn't balked, I would guess that the MLB umpire supervisors have told the staff to call it that way. Remember, those supervisors are some of the oldest umpires alive, and that's how it was called back in the day.

It's not called that way in MiLB.

As for K-Rod, his delivery is so quick, Ricky Henderson would think twice about stealing on him, even on that loopy deuce. I don't see any advantage gained.