Wcos
 

Lousy positioning at 1B, IMO. Starts really deep and making calls from foul territory when not necessary. In one case, the ball was coming from F5 near circle and there is no way she can see the ball get in the glove.

If it is juggled or dropped, there is no way she is going to see it.

J Finch is tearing it up.

I thought I just had a bad angle on my TV.

But...yes...weird positioning.

yeah I talked to an ISF umpire about some of their screwy things and they had no answer about why they do it like that. also in regards to the foul territory calls, I know that they had four umpires last night so getting the "perfect" 90 degree angle could be some reason for that since they are always going to have someone ahead of them.

No, this 45 degrees to base and about 180 degrees to the throw. If the glove doesn't snap, the umpire can only assume the ball was caught cleanly. If an umpire is going to get this play from foul territory, she should have been no deeper than the end of the coach's box, 90 to the bag. That would have least given her the opportunity to see the ball get into the glove.

It was a routine play, but it's when the play is everything but routine when the right positioning counts :D

ESPN has some new camera angles that are interesting, but the same old talking heads in the booth. Why do they think a baseball guy can work this game?

And how about that "HBP, uh, wait a minute, no it wasn't". Meanwhile, the idiot TH originally said the player was out for turning towards 2B when she reached first. Say what? WHERE DO THEY GET THESE GUYS?!?!

Happy Birthday Party ?

http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/pa...smiley-020.gif
Have a good day, Mike.

Don't start!!! :D

Anyone see the 'dead ball - off the foot' call from the 3BU in USA v Japan on Bustos? Clearly was NOT off her foot - missed it by about 2' to 3'!

Boo. Lucky break for USA tho.

That and the OMG wide zone from the PU.

A gift from the ump.

Yeah, last year when it happened!;)

I know this is off topic, gut the talking heads were annoying me by the way they kept calling the Netherlands team, "Holland."
That would be like calling the US team "Indiana, or California, or Florida."

Granted with all the Cali players through the years it wouldn't be a huge stretch.:D

Falls right in with the mound and rubber.

You know what... I wondered. TiVO bounced me from netherlands to japan. I didn't put two and two together untl sometime mid afternoon today.

The official name is the Kingdom of the Netherlands. (How un-p.c.!)

Remember when "Russia" was the common term for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics?

Continuing OT... Losing battle, there. The website of the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions is holland.com, and the nation is referred repeatedly throughout the web site as "Holland."

Kind of like being upset that all Americans (there's a name right there, too) being called "Yankees" by people around the world.

Besides, didn't the Kingdom of the Netherlands include Belgium and Luxembourg at one time?

Sat. USA/JAP - Why did 3U point the ball foul when the ball is caught for an out? I understand this was taught at the 2008 National Camp. Personally I do not understand pointing foul. It is a redundant signal. When I see a blue point foul then call foul ball I say no sh**.

I've noticed some MLB umpires using that signal.

Could not agree more and have no idea why anyone thinks this is a good something that needs to be done.

Did you really need to go there? :D

Anybody notice when Kershaw called an IP on Japan she turned to the press box and held out her RIGHT arm and announce the IP?

Coach, if you are going to pull out the line-up card as a guise to discussing the Japanese pitcher's motion, at least look at it. :cool:

BTW, her delivery is different, but not illegal.

Anyone else notice the 3BU on yesterday's game (USA vs. Italy) pointing up on a high fly ball in the infield? It wasn't an IFF, it was more like, "look, there's the ball! De ball, boss, de ball!"

Keeping an open mike on the umpire may not be the best idea in the world. In the 6th, curve ball on the outside called strike.

Then I think there was some idle chatter between batters saying something along the lines of "I will not call that one again".

Two pitches later........"ball". :rolleyes:

I have no problem with that, but when you are wearing a wire...:D

Did anyone notice the plate umpire change her strike mechanic between the 2 and 3 inning. Wonder if she did this on her own or got a call from somebody in Canada.:D

On the other hand, I did like the helmet cam in Beijing. I thought it showed just how on the ball the PUs were.

Try every MiLB and MLB umpire I've seen. Thanks to this board I realized there really isn't a need for it.

It's been a hard habit for me to break, but I don't do it in softball games anymore. I'm getting better at it in baseball.

I thought he meant "Half Blood Prince"!

Why a call from Canada?

that is where one of the important persons for umpiring women's softball is this weekend.

Maybe, but I wrote that on Mike's birthday. :)

What did I tell you about that?!

Call the fire department before lighting the candles?

I missed this tidbit...


Happy late 65th. Mike.....

Happy birthday? How many? 25?

The pointing foul in baseball was for scoring purposes. The common scorebook used even showed an example of how to designate a caught foul fly, e.g., F7f. A description of Game 5 of the 1964 World Series contained "Maris fouled to K. Boyer for the final out."

It's like ground rule double—it's wrong, but it's right.

Anyone catch USA/Canada in the 2nd inning when the 3BU started calling IP's on Abbott? USA Coach comes out - they have him mic'd - and his comment was something like, Why are you calling those on her now? You didn't call those last week up in Canada!

I saw it and had a question about it but no one said boo hoo about it. Jennie Finch was doing the same thing.

Good for him, she picks her foot up, moves it forward and pitches. Guess she does not like pushing off from the rubber. I wonder if this is what they have in mind when the talk about a rocking motion.

May be it is not a big deal at that level but she re-establishes her pivot foot. I have called this and until somebody tells me not to, I will still do it.

Coach did not argue whether it was illegal or not but why today and not yesterday.

There is nothing illegal about a pitcher rocking as long as they can do it with both feet in contact with the pitcher's plate.Abbott had the same issue in college. It often looked like she was just clearing her spikes of the PP and she would occasionally slide forward a bit. She had the same issue last year in this tournament, I believe. Sliding forward, also, is not illegal UNLESS the pivot foot loses contact with the PP prior to the motion creating the drag and I think that is where Abbott gets into trouble.

Must be the humidity in the Oklahoma air! :D

That is what I saw.