Rangers O'Day--balk?
 

O'Day stops in front of his face and again at his groin. But not once was he called for a balk.

Anyone else see it who may be able to say why he shouldn't have been called for a balk?

Rita

Didn't see it, but was anything else moving during the first stop, like his free foot/leg coming back?

Common "no call" in MLB. Everyone knows what every pitcher's set move is, so no one interprets the move from head to waist as the start of the pitch.

Is that pitcher a reliever? Some relievers always pitch from the set, even with no runners. In that case, they don't even have to come set once in MLB.

As usual, HS umpires should not take their mechanics or enforcements from MLB.

Blame it on a version of "he's always done that" syndrome.

I asked an Eastern League crew about a similar move I saw in their game. Their response was along the lines of, "He's made it dubs without that being called in single A. We're not going to be the ones to tell him umpires in three leagues and their evaluators screwed up, and when he gets to trips, they won't tell him either."

So he makes it to the Show and continues the move that no one called. (Until he meets up with balkin' Bob, of course.:D )

No, just two very distinct stops.

Rita

By rule it is a balk, but as stated earlier, everyone knows he does it and he does it every time, so it is a no call.

Being a Mariner fan (please be kind, we are going for 3 100+ loss seasons in 4 years) I watched the Mariner-Ranger series the last 3 days.
I would say when he pitched with no one on it was clearly two stops, but with no one on who cares. When he pitched with runner(s) on it was very close as his lower body was moving (barely).
In general it's not a balk that is likely to get called at a MLB game, and as close to borderline as you would like to get, but is legal as he has some slight movement in his lower body as he is in "set #1" and then does his actual pause of his entire body in "set #2".

This is not two very distinct stops, and not an obvious balk. It is very borderline but the guy has been pitching in the Major Leagues since 2007, has has never been called for a balk, I would guess in that time Bob Davidson has seen him at least once, and if he isn't calling it a balk, it is not a balk.

Jasper

Thank you. Though he was doing it with a runner on when I saw. I'll look for it next time the Mariners play the Rangers.

Rita

Speaking of that, "Bob Davidson" is trending on Twitter tonight so naturally I asked myself, "What did he do this time?" ;)

It sounds like a call at 3B that went against the Jays. Maybe it was missed, maybe the fanboys are being fanboys. I haven't checked it out yet.

You can check it out here:

http://forum.officiating.com/basebal...erference.html