Ground rules question

[Publius]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

I also agree that if the player is playing it, I'm assuming it's playable - and sticking with my "normal" responsibilities. I actually find it rather bizarre that Rich had a problem with that... are you suggesting that you would head out to the outfield to check it out even if the outfielder is playing the ball? Seems odd.

That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about the morons who point out the dead-ball areas (e.g., a bullpen bench) where a ball is reachable, but not easily, or out-of-play areas with readily discernible demarcation lines. They utter nonsense like, "If the ball goes in there, have the players throw up their hands and we'll kill it, but if they play it, we're keeping it live." If you don't clearly see the ball in one of those areas, a player continuing to play it is certainly evidence that the ball remained in live-ball territory.

If you do clearly see the ball in a dead-ball area, the play should be killed whether or not the defense attempts to keep playing, and dingbat umpires shouldn't advise otherwise at the plate meeting.

That's all he's saying.