OK, I can live with that although I don't entirely agree. I guess my next question is when 2/3 of the crew apparently can't call IPs, why are they assigned to work 3-man on "a big match up between two state ranked high school teams"? Just curious.

I guess you'd need to ask BlitzkriegBob that question, although like anything else in human endeavor, not everything is determined strictly by merit.

Yeah, I agree with what everyone else says also. For the record, I didn't say a word to either partner. To clarify, I had this pitcher in two games, and the two partners I described each worked one game with me. Her team was was ranked in the top 5 in Class 3A, and they were facing another top 10 in Class 3A, and the number 1 team in the state from Class 4A. When they faced the #1 team, it was a rescheduled game, and while I was originally scheduled to work with a pretty good umpire the first time around, I ended up with the rookie for the makeup game. He didn't have much to do on the bases, as it was a 2-0 game with the #1 team's pitcher one out away from throwing a no-hitter, and both runs were pushed across in the same inning...one on an IP called by yours truly (remarkably without a peep from the DC, he knew what she did). I can't tell you why he ended up with this game, I don't do the scheduling.

In situation (a) or (b) I would be thinking about the future conversation I would be having with the assignor.