Runners requesting time

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by mcrowder

Why is calling the game the way it's meant to be called a "fascination"? There's no reason to stop play every 30 seconds to reset. This isn't football. There is a flow to the game. Constant stoppages for unnecessary timeouts disrupts that flow.

There's my point. Thank you, very much. WHO SAID THE GAME IS MEANT TO BE PLAYED "LIVE"? What God of softball made that determination?

BTW, you may keep the ball live in FP, but nothing is supposed to happen, so what difference does it make? You get a gotcha on a runner who comes off a base every now and then? Is THAT the way the game is supposed to be played?

If "stoppage" is so bad, why is it that the SP game (which Tom mistakenly believes is part of my belief on this subject) which has more action, more offense, more defense, more at bats and the same number of outs takes only 2/3 of the time it takes to play a quick FP game?

[Paul L]

To me, softball and baseball are games designed to test a multitude of skills. One of the lesser of those skills is the ability of a runner to stay on a base without getting tagged out. Until the runner demonstrates this ability, I don't have relaxed action.

I will not call time in this situation unless the runner on the ground and the fielder holding a tag freeze for a few seconds, in which case I call time even without a request (assuming no other action on the field). I will call time upon request if the runner is stretched out in such a position that they would have unreasonable difficulty in regaining their feet without coming off the bag, such as a hook slide away from the bag with one toe touching.

Sometimes repeated requests will elicit a "You don't need time" from me.

However, I don't feel strongly about this issue and have no problem with another ump handling it differently.

[mcrowder]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

There's my point. Thank you, very much. WHO SAID THE GAME IS MEANT TO BE PLAYED "LIVE"? What God of softball made that determination?

I would ask you exactly the opposite.

I'm not playing God when I come to the conclusion that this is the way it should be played. The rules themselves lead me to that conclusion. If my conclusion is in error, I welcome you to change my mind. But the fact that the rulebook limits the amount of times that each team can stop play to discuss things, the fact that there are rules around what may or may not happen between pitches (implying that the ball should be live during this period), as well as other things, lead me to believe that the underlying assumption is that the ball is live most of the time. And when it is, there is a natural flow, like I mentioned above.

And maybe it's just a matter of perception.

But the slowpitch game seems to have no flow to me. Stop, start, stop, start, etc.