Thanks for all the suggestions, it's given me a lot to think about.

Re: why go 6-4-5 instead of 6-4-3: both R1 and R2 "Froze" when the ball was hit, and didn't start running again until the ball was clearly on the ground... BR was sprinting immediately on contact, so by the time F6 recovered the ball and threw to F4, BR was about 2/3 of the way to 1st and R2 was about halfway between 2nd and 3rd... so the easier play was actually on R2.

RE: hiring two... believe me, we've tried. All of these schools claim they don't have the money for it... and I believe about 15% of them, although I don't believe it in the case of either school that was playing in this game.

Hell, last night I had a minor sh-tstorm on the part of a coach in a 1-umpire game after an attempted pickoff play on R3 after a pitch. (talk about having NO angle whatsoever). A quick "Coach, I need a second set of eyes to make that call" didn't necessarily calm him down, but it did get him to shut up and retreat back to his dugout.

You are a man with an impossible task met with unreasonable expectations in a land of quandary. Have fun out there. Tomorrow will be a better today! ;)

Yet another incarnation of our favorite troll, I'm guessing.

Give him the benefit of the doubt - he's not trolled yet. Besides ... can't be the other guy, he spelled quandary correctly.

I'd put good money on it, the posting style is exactly the same.

Exactly. And I may have a "new" account, but trust me I was around for the previous incarnations of the same troll and the posting style is identical.

New account? What was the old account? Any account? :p My bad, let's get back to officiating! :mad:

I think it's clear I was wrong...

With the ball hit to the right of F6 [OP], I'm guessing the coach's admonition: "Ball hit to this side, make sure it's through" is keeping R2 closer to 2d, at least at first and until the ball is thrown to 2d for the force on R1. And, retreating [or at least pulling up] so that the fielder has to take "a couple steps" toward 2d to make the tag - still more time for an unimpeded R3 to make it home.

So - automatic? No. But a whole lot more likely than not. Score the run unless you are SURE he was tardy.

Who is the other guy you were referring to?

Trolling seems to have two definitions around here.

New guy=troll, I suppose.

Seriously? Where do you have BU go/stand during plays in the infield when you have a full crew? While I agree there is some danger of needing to avoid a throw from 2d to home, there is no other situation I can think of where moving inside TO THE HOME SIDE OF THE MOUND could possibly put you in anyone's [or anything's] way. As for part of the play developing behind you, see "1-man {!!HA!!} mechanics" in my previous post - that is gonna happen, no matter what you do; so at least improve both angle and distance to 3/4 of the places you need to see. Actually, it's more like 4/5 improvement, 'cause if there is a play at the plate and you are halfway up 3bl and wide to "open up" the field of view, you are likely to have no view at all of what happens thru R3's backside.

OP stated this was assigned one-man, so we can forget penance for our worthless no-show partner; and The Game was accepted because the assigner needs/ expects someone to take it, and usually the guy who gets offered this kind of game isn't given much choice. Accepting a one-man assignment does not obligate one to tolerate whinging by the people who decided to forego the expense of a 2d umpire when the natural and predicable consequences of their parsimony bite them in the azz; or to be more tolerant or even appologetic for the limitations of our "One-man {I repeat, !!HA!!} mechanics".
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He is not new, he has been here before under many different names and he may not have trolled yet but he will.

Originally Posted by mbcrowder http://forum.officiating.com/images/...s/viewpost.gif
Give him the benefit of the doubt - he's not trolled yet. Besides ... can't be the other guy, he spelled quandary correctly.


Now I get it. Only fair, the new guy has to seek and gain acceptance into the Club! OK, fair enough! I'll try my best. I always do! ;)

Then why would you ever go into fair territory with runners in scoring position? I've worked a ton of one man games over the years, and that's not the place you want to be.
Exactly. You can call everything you need to call from foul territory when runners are in scoring position. On first to 3rd, I'm still at the cutout at 3rd waiting on that runner, but I'm getting out of Dodge if there is going to be action at home plate.

No, old guy troll with new troll guy user name=troll.