Manny and Dash.

And it can't be a HBP either.

But there will be one mightily pissed off offensive team.

What do you do after the mound charge is over?

Well at that point you put both hands up and start chasing people back to the dugout.

Rule 5.1.4 ....After a dead ball, the ball becomes live when (in summary) the pitcher, catcher and batter are in place and ready.........and the umpire calls "play" and gives the appropriate signal.

Control your game and this crap doesn't happen. Period.

No sh!t.

That wasn't the question though.

Well, if the umpire feels the pitcher purposely threw at the batter, we know the remedy for that. But how are you going to prove it? It could be that all you had was a pitcher who jumped the gun on the pitch before the ball was put back into play, and it got away from him/her. Not all balls that hit the batter are headhunting shots.

I'm not sure what else you're looking for, Rich. We already established that it cannot be a balk, and as you point out, it cannot be a HBP. If there's a bench clearing incident, you treat it like any other bench clearing incident. If that didn't happen, you can certainly warn the pitcher to wait until the ball is put in play, and wait for the offensive coach to decide the batter is okay to continue, or bring in a sub.