NLCS blown base award

[Lapopez]

Practically, you call what you see.

[You can stop there, unless you're interested in a dissertation.]

From the beginning, I've held the umpires blameless. Maven straight out ASSUMES they saw the step back and ruled (!) it a jump turn (where do you stand on this now, babe?). I don't subscribe to UES's slippery slope business either. Carl says he never sees the Cain move, but Carl regularly does a little better baseball than I do. As in 1999, I still see the Cain move often. The frequency diminishes as the age and skill level increases. The older boys are losing precious fractions of a second stepping back and turning (Cain) rather than just turning (MLBUM). From a practical standpoint, if I couldn't see the step back, I'll rule as the MLB umpires did in the Cain play. You can't call what you don't see. To the offensive coach, "I'm sorry Skip, he was so quick, I didn't see the step back. Please go back to your dugout now as I really don't want to run you for something I missed."