Dilemma - Dropped ball during rundown

[DaveASA/FED]

I agree with everyone else here....SLOW DOWN! I still have to tell myself that every game to slow down, I have gotten better with plate mechanics thud...ball or thud...strike. But still want to make a rush call in the field...it all happened so fast I should call it fast, right??? Wrong. I worked with a new partner lastnight, good official, works college a couple of state finals under his belt. Had a play at 3rd ball coming in from outfield runner hook sliding and I got a feeling of what good timing was and it is a lot slower than what I would have called it. The slide was done runner had stopped moving and he came in with a sell safe call that left no doubt! Just like a call at first when you call out when the runner is a couple of steps past first there is nothing wrong with waiting till the play is "done" to make the call.

And on another note I guess I am getting better at not listening to people I did a game Tuesday night where one player was a daughter of a co-worker. This lady came to me yesterday at work and asked if I was deaf. I guess she was heckling me from the whole game, to a point where her husband even told her to be quiet, and I honestly never even heard her. But I also have had a case where the wind blew just right when that one fan seemed to yell!!

[shipwreck]

I kind of liken it to reading in front of people. You can get caught up in the reading and even if you start slow it is easy to start picking up the pace too fast. A priest of mine told me once if you think you are reading at the perfect speed you are still reading too fast, SLOW down. Same holds true for making a call. Give yourself some time, and then add on some more time and you should be about right. When you are on the field, 2-3 seconds seems like an eternity. Dave