Phillies - Brewers Interference
 

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200810043591751

Pretty good call to me...

I agree. The sad part is it seemed the Brewers had to bring it to the umpires' attention to get the call.

I agree. Although initially, I thought Sveum was arguing for an ejection for the runner intentionally taking out the 38-year old Counsell.

Yah, but Counsell is such a BIG guy...;)

I think the big surprise was they did call it. My only question is how many times could it be called during the MLB regular season only to be ignored...

My question is whether it can be called two minutes later, when not called at the time.

Well, kudos to Sveum for knowing the rule and calmly and effectively arguing it.

From reading the thread on the baseball forum I think that U2 had the INT; the crew just forgot about the runner who scored and had to be returned to 3B.

It seems like MLB has been trying to settle down some of the action at 2B the last couple of seasons but some umpires are more strict about calling INT than others.

With only a six man crew, I can see how something like that could be overlooked! :rolleyes:

Sveum wasn't arguing the call. He just wanted to know how it was scored in the book because even with the INT, the DP was still turned and Sveum wanted to know how that was going to go in the book.

I don't want to cut them too much slack, but they almost never call interference. And when they do, they rarely have other runners to deal with.

On the flip side, we call interference quite a bit more regularly. And we always have other runners to deal with.

Use it, lose it knowledge is easy to fall back on, but they are getting paid a little bit more than I am to know their rules. I understand, but I expect more.

Maybe too many chefs spoil the broth. How many of US have worked on a 6-man crew (for one game)?

Our duties and responsibilities, by and large, are very clearly laid out for us. MLB just seems to like to throw more umpires out there. I'm not so sure it does any good.

I'm waiting for them to put umpires at the warning track.

Nah, they've got IR for that, now. :rolleyes:

I have long felt anything more than 3 umpires is just for show. And having six out there doesn't help the guys in Williamsport, either...

BTW, I have done two games with a 6-man crew. They were championship series games at a LL softball regional, and if I wasn't working 1B for one of them I probably would have gone to sleep.

I've done some 6-man games - it's a whole 'nother world. Most recently was earlier this year with the Olympic team. I had 2B and had few calls, but a whole lot of movement.

I've worked everything from one-umpire games to six-umpire crews. Yes, even a five-umpire crew where all calls in the OF were the responsibility of the blues on the line and the others worked three-umpire mechanics with no one going out.

Whether it works or not all depends on the knowledge of the crew. ASA does not support anything more than a three-umpire crew though many have used it away from OKC.

It may be boring in the FP game, but it is a lot of fun, plenty of movement and enough calls to go around on the SP side.