Couple of interesting plays...

[Dakota]

...from the MLB playoffs.

The curse of umpiring - I can never actually watch an entire game (even a MLB game) without "umpiring" it. I was wondering about ASA rules in the first situation, and just commenting on "all umpires miss one or two" in the other.

1) Twins / Yankees. Runner on 1st. Batter has squared to bunt a couple of times. Pitcher has thrown to 1st a couple of times. A pitchout is called. Runner goes. Batter throws the bat across the plate at the pitch / in front of the catcher. Move was to no avail, and the runner was gunned down.

Anyone care to comment on ASA rules in this situation (and various variations: e.g.

2) As above, but bat hits the ball and it goes a) fair; b) foul; c) into catcher's glove.

3) As above, but bat makes contact with the catcher's glove.

4) Observed blown call (badly blown that affected the outcome, IMO). I'll describe in order the events were revealed by TV, not in the order they happened. Dodgers / Cardinals. Score 0-0. Gerry Davis was crew chief and U2. Runner on 1st (and 2nd, but that doesn't affect the play). Batter attempts a bunt. F2 fields the ball and throws to 2B. Ball (it seems to me) clearly beats the runner to the bag. Call is SAFE. Wow! (I think.) Cards manager comes out. Umpires conference. TV replay shows the bunt. The ball rebounds back and hits the bat a second time. The batter is still in the box, or very close to being in the box. "Oh," I'm thinking, "that explains the SAFE at 2nd, since the batter was OUT, there was no force so a tag was necessary.

Incredibly, the crew does NOT call the batter out, and the runner on 2nd remains safe. Dodgers went on to have a big inning and won the game. Had the batter (or the runner) been called OUT, the third out would have been made BEFORE any runs scored.

But, IMO, Davis is significantly overrated as an umpire, so I guess I'm not surprised.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally posted by Dakota
...

1) Twins / Yankees. Runner on 1st. Batter has squared to bunt a couple of times. Pitcher has thrown to 1st a couple of times. A pitchout is called. Runner goes. Batter throws the bat across the plate at the pitch / in front of the catcher. Move was to no avail, and the runner was gunned down.

Anyone care to comment on ASA rules in this situation (and various variations: e.g.

It is an attempt to bat the ball, strike.

2) As above, but bat hits the ball and it goes a) fair; b) foul; c) into catcher's glove.

a) fair ball
b) foul ball
c) either a foul ball or foul tip

3) As above, but bat makes contact with the catcher's glove.

If the umpire judged the batter was not trying to hit the ball and the catcher stepped up out of the CB to receive the ball, it would be INT, batter's out, runner returns to 1B.

4) Observed blown call (badly blown that affected the outcome, IMO). I'll describe in order the events were revealed by TV, not in the order they happened. Dodgers / Cardinals. Score 0-0. Gerry Davis was crew chief and U2. Runner on 1st (and 2nd, but that doesn't affect the play). Batter attempts a bunt. F2 fields the ball and throws to 2B. Ball (it seems to me) clearly beats the runner to the bag. Call is SAFE. Wow! (I think.) Cards manager comes out. Umpires conference. TV replay shows the bunt. The ball rebounds back and hits the bat a second time. The batter is still in the box, or very close to being in the box. "Oh," I'm thinking, "that explains the SAFE at 2nd, since the batter was OUT, there was no force so a tag was necessary.

Incredibly, the crew does NOT call the batter out, and the runner on 2nd remains safe. Dodgers went on to have a big inning and won the game. Had the batter (or the runner) been called OUT, the third out would have been made BEFORE any runs scored.

Actually, after seeing the replay a couple of times, I thought the ball actually hit the back of the batter's hand as he held the bat. It wouldn't have made any difference if it hit the bat, the batter was still in the box. Dead ball, foul! should have been the call.



[Edited by IRISHMAFIA on Oct 11th, 2004 at 01:32 PM]

[Bagman62]

Great questions Tom.

I could not find anything the addressed relasing the bat or throwing the bat at the pitch so here are my resonses:

Pitch is called a strike Rule 7 – 4 – C, POE #9 Batter made attempt to hit the pitch

A) Fair Ball, B0 Foul ball and C) Out

HTBT
Catcher’s Obstruction. When the catcher obstructs, hinders or prevents the batter from striking or hitting a pitched ball
INT Batter out 7 - 6 - P

[Steve M]

Now & then I used to bat left-handed & put a bunt down to show off a bit. When I did this, very seldom was the bat actually in my hand when the bat hit the ball. That's been accepted in men's play for 20+ years.

So, 1 is nothing. 2 is fair, foul, maybe a foul tip maybe an out depending on how it goes to the catcher's glove. On 3, I have interference on the batter - since the batter let go of the bat, there is intent - batter out & runner(s) return to base occupied at time of pitch.

And yeah, that's kinda a curse, Tom. Doesn't matter what the game or sport is, I can't just watch it without seeing some detail that most don't. Not too helpful for those where I don't know rules, interps, or definitions.