Bob Davidson

[MD Longhorn]

What the hell is Balking Bob doing turning his back on the field during a live ball?!?!?! Holy crap. Then he looks startled that something is happened... or perhaps just startled that someone other than him called a balk.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

What the hell is Balking Bob doing turning his back on the field during a live ball?!?!?! Holy crap. Then he looks startled that something is happened... or perhaps just startled that someone other than him called a balk.

Could you give a description or at least a video of what you are talking about. I have no idea what game this could have taken place.

Peace

[MD Longhorn]

Last night - the Yankee game, I believe... a walk-off balk was called by the SECOND base umpire (it was an elephant balk), but Balking Bob had taken two steps toward third, and when the pitcher balked and then stepped off, Bob was turned around looking at left field. VERY ugly to an umpire (and not mentioned by the announcers, of course). Bob then calls the balk also (I guess echoing your partner's signal is the new style in MLB), a balk he couldn't have seen by the way. Only way he knew it was a balk was that the 3rd base coach and R1 on 3rd were yelling at him that it was a balk, and pointing at the pitcher.

[grunewar]

Turns out it was the D'Backs and the Dodgers (not the Yanks):

A balk by Esmerling Vasquez allowed Casey Blake to score the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Dodgers a 5-4 victory Monday night.

That being said, how common is this? I can't recall seeing it before, but, it's happened to the Dodgers THREE times in 41 yrs:

The Dodgers won via a walk-off balk for just the second time since 1969 and the first since beating the Mets 4-3 on Roger McDowell 's 12th-inning balk on May 28, 1989

[fbara]

Here's the only video I saw of it:
Recaps | 5/31/10: Dodgers take wild victory on balk-off - Video | MLB.com: Multimedia

The balk it near the middle of the video.

[Jurassic Referee]

Another take..and video...of it....

Blake's bluff draws balk-off win for Dodgers | dodgers.com: News

[BaBa Booey]

Looks to me like since the batter had stepped out of the box, Bob was walking back into position with his back turned, yes, but his head was still looking back towards the field (you can get a look at it at around the 1:15 mark on the second video posted.

Bob gets a bad wrap from a lot of people and I think that's the only reason anyone brought this up. If it was Jeff Nelson at third I doubt anyone even notices.

[MD Longhorn]

No, I would have said something regardless of who it was... although probably without the comments regarding the umpire being shocked that someone other than him called a balk.

Watch his head - I don't think he's looking toward the pitcher at all... what's more, when the 3BC and R1 start yelling and pointing, he reacts as if startled into paying attention, not knowing what the hubbub was about.

Worse, to me, was echoing the call. From the announcers POV and initial POV, it REALLY looks like he was talked into a call by the offense. Only after seeing the whole play do you realize U2 called it first. But it's a pointless echo anyway.

[Skarecrow]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

No, I would have said something regardless of who it was... although probably without the comments regarding the umpire being shocked that someone other than him called a balk.

Watch his head - I don't think he's looking toward the pitcher at all... what's more, when the 3BC and R1 start yelling and pointing, he reacts as if startled into paying attention, not knowing what the hubbub was about.

Worse, to me, was echoing the call. From the announcers POV and initial POV, it REALLY looks like he was talked into a call by the offense. Only after seeing the whole play do you realize U2 called it first. But it's a pointless echo anyway.

Definitely not watching the play....he is looking out at center....

[Steven Tyler]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

No, I would have said something regardless of who it was... although probably without the comments regarding the umpire being shocked that someone other than him called a balk.

Watch his head - I don't think he's looking toward the pitcher at all... what's more, when the 3BC and R1 start yelling and pointing, he reacts as if startled into paying attention, not knowing what the hubbub was about.

Worse, to me, was echoing the call. From the announcers POV and initial POV, it REALLY looks like he was talked into a call by the offense. Only after seeing the whole play do you realize U2 called it first. But it's a pointless echo anyway.

Actually it was U1, Tim Timmons who made the initial balk call.

It appears Bob missed a great opportunity to put another notch in his gun handle.

BTW-I was watching it live and from the camera angle on the pitcher I didn't see anything at first. The replays at the end of game made it appear to be a balk. However watching it on the MLB website, it looks as if Vasquez stepped off the rubber before starting any motion with his arm.

[DG]

I missing the point here. He stepped off then pointed toward 3B. What is the balk?

It was called by 1B umpire.

What is elephant balk?

Is this the correct video for question at hand? Batter is stepping in the box and PU is behind F2 when balk is called.

[johnnyg08]

It looked like he started and stopped. The angles weren't that good. Looked like he set twice. Not sure though. Just listen to the announcers...they'll explain it for you :-)

[DG]

Originally Posted by johnnyg08

It looked like he started and stopped. The angles weren't that good. Looked like he set twice. Not sure though. Just listen to the announcers...they'll explain it for you :-)

Not to me. I turn the audio down low when announcers start explaining balks.

[johnnyg08]

Originally Posted by DG

Not to me. I turn the audio down low when announcers start explaining balks.

Can you get it low enough?

[justanotherblue]

in the second video, you can see he buckles his front knee, then steps off and points.