Time not called, but . . .

[tcannizzo]

Bases loaded, 1 out.

Ground ball to F1 who throws to F2 who apparently misses HP, and then throws to F3 to retire BR. PU signaled and verbaled "SAFE" on the play at the plate. To those out of earshot of PU, it had all the appearances of an inning ending double play.

DC requests TIME from 3B dugout door and calmly approaches PU, obviously to question the call. DC gets about 4 ft from PU who seemed ready and willing to entertain the question. Meanwhile everything was stopped.

UNTIL, OC says "He never called TIME" and instructed R2, who had rounded 3B, to score. She trotted across the plate.

You can imagine the rest.

TD was called to the field to resolve the issue, which I will share later.

[Manny A]

If I'm the PU and I forgot to grant the request of Time, but I'm making it obvious that I'm going to talk with the defensive coach who is approaching me, then I'm going to disallow the base advance and tell the offensive coach I had Time even though I didn't call it. Then, I'll eat a little well-deserved crow.

Most rule sets have a provision that an umpire's inadvertent call (or, in this case, non-call) shall not put a team at a disadvantage, and that the umpire can rectify the situation. That's what I would do here.

[MD Longhorn]

I agree with Manny. Stopping play to talk to coach is defacto calling time. Although in this situation, I'm pretty positive I would not be halting play (2 outs, live runners, ball not in the circle) to talk to anyone, and defensive coach would get the hand.

[Jtaylor33]

Hey guys , new to the site and hope to be around and learn and participate as much as I can.

In regards to this situation, I wonder if PU was watching action still happening on the field and intentionally did not call time. If PU is waiting for the ball to get back to circle, just because DC asked for time and came out of the dugout I would assume PU does not have to grant that time. I also assume that OC noticed ball is not in circle, maybe catcher pitcher not paying attention and he was heads up and made smart play.

Now if PU is walking to or recognizing DC then I would be on the same page as the rest of the ump just not calling time.

Interested to know what happened with TD

[tcannizzo]

TD allowed the run to score.
Although I heard and saw PU signal SAFE, I would have preferred that he really sold it with "OFF THE BASE - SAFE" to eliminate any possible confusion.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by tcannizzo

TD allowed the run to score.
Although I heard and saw PU signal SAFE, I would have preferred that he really sold it with "OFF THE BASE - SAFE" to eliminate any possible confusion.

We really need more on the actions of PU after the play ended. Did they acknowledge the coach, put up the stop sign, turn away from play ... anything?

If I'm PU in this situation, I know play is not over and coach is getting the stop sign ... and play is live. If coach comes into play while it's still live and ignores my stop sign, he's probably getting ejected, even if calm.

[tcannizzo]

PU was basically 3BL extended, seemingly facing towards the approaching coach.
No stop sign.
All action on the field had stopped for several seconds, as coach was approaching; AND some of the defense, and remaining runners, started leaving the field thinking the inning was over.
It was when coach was about 4 ft from PU when I heard the OC call out to R2 "He never called TIME, GO!"

Afterwards, PU said that he never acknowledged the coach and was still watching the play, or lack thereof. Without the coach distraction, there is no way any runners would have tried anything.

To me, it looked like he was committed to the coach.

P.S. this happened at 10PM, 5th game of the day. Not sure if everyone's brain cells were totally functioning at optimal strength at the time.
It is possible that we both missed a LBR violation.

[MD Longhorn]

You never said the ball went back to the circle (why would it if they thought they had just completed the 3rd out ... or if it DID get back to the pitcher, did that pitcher drop the ball as they decided to leave the field).

With your clarification, this sounds like the right call. Play never ended. Coach on the field changes nothing other than putting that coach in jeopardy of being tossed.