Injury "Timeout"
 

Here is the situation.

Team A is at bat. B4 hits a single, routine play, nothing special. At the end of the playing action I see the B4, now standing at first, requesting time. I grant time and she immediately goes down to the ground. Turns out she has a calf cramp. I give her time to stretch out the cramped leg and be able to return. During the quick break (no more than 2 minutes), the DC comes out complaining she is wasting time and they have 3 subs, she has to use them .

What is the proper rule on this. My response was that it was my judgement on the amount of time needed. Was this correct?

The DC was a pain all game, questioning almost every call during the game.

Sir - I hear what you're saying, but that's my call, not yours. Please go sit down.

PS - if he's "been a pain all game", warn and eject. You promote what you permit. Nip it in the bud... nothing good ever comes from letting these guys wear you out.

Are you having a tough day? ;) :p :D :D

Was this a time limit game?

The problem is that there has to be a reason to eject. Being a pain all day, while annoying, is not in and of itself a reason to eject a coach. She never acted in an unsportsmanlike manner, but came out to question almost every close call or situation she did not like.

If I spoke Spanish I may have had reason to eject, because I suspect I was sworn at in Spanish a few times. Since I don't speak it I cant be certain if it was swearing or not.

I suggest you re-evaluate the two clauses in this sentence.

Assuming this was a Fed game, you might want to re-read Rule 3-6-15.

Well... first - coming out to question almost every close call is unsportsmanlike.

It's not our job to entertain this nonsense from a coach. If someone comes out to dispute something, it had better be, "Blue, I think she pulled her foot on that one - can you ask your partner".

Just coming out to remind you how much he disagrees with a particular call is not acceptable. We might entertain it once, let them go. 2nd time out there, "Coach, we aren't going to argue every single judgement call today." At most, on the 3rd, "Coach, that's enough". Then eject if he goes again.

You SERIOUSLY do not have to deal with this kind of nonsense. And if you do put up with it, that's really on you as the umpire.

I suspect he wasted more by continually coming out than the 2 minutes he was complaining about during the injury you discussed in the OP.

You may want to read the wording in 3-6-15. The word I used was question, not argue. There is a difference, and it is a fine line of difference, but it is a difference.

Again, the wording of 3-6-15 is key. Questioning a call is not a prohibited act. Arguing the call is. There is a difference and we have been instructed to be mindful of this difference.

With all of that said, yes, she likely did waste more than 2 minutes questioning calls.

The word is not limited to vein-popping, red-faced, dirt kicking arguing. Continually disputing or questioning is arguing.

You didn't answer my earlier question... was there a time limit on this game?

Could it be "unwarranted disputing of decision" as described in 10-2-3f ?

Now you sound like my GF. Stop.

No time limit on the game. If there was, it may have impacted a decision on how much time to give, then again maybe not.

Possibly, but in fairness to the coach, there were a lot of close plays in this game. I would say there were a lot of plays that from the coaches angle, the call would be different than the angle the umpires have on the play. We did have a lot of close tag plays in this game.

hrmmm.. hope I don't have to do anything in "fairness" to the coach.... no telling how I'd act. ;)

If you don't want advice, don't post. Stop.

If it was not a time limit game, then the coach had no basis for questioning how long the injury timeout was. That was the reason for my question.

And if it was a time limit game the umpire should be able to suspend time for a lengthy injury time out.

You seem to be arguing in favor of taking more nonsense from coaches than anyone else would. I'm not sure I understand your motivation for that...

Also ... if you think there's nothing wrong with this guy's antics (note that EVERYONE here is telling you there is) --- why did you bring this question up in the first place.

This is purely a game management issue. If you feel a player is able to continue and just needs some time to get herself back to playing condition, allow it. If another coach complains, tell him/her you'd do the same for one of his/her players.

Although not totally applicable in this scenario, you can use the same philosophy that you find in rule 3-3-10 when dealing with blood. It says, in part, "If medical care or treatment can be administered in a reasonable amount of time, the individual does not have to leave the game. The length of time that is considered reasonable is umpire judgment."

I had no problem with you asking about a time limit, I think it is a fair question to ask.

Ok, fair enough. At what point when you have a lot of close plays that a coach might want to ask about do you say enough. I have a problem setting a number because each game is different. If the coach was asking about plays where the girl was very clearly safe and she wanted to dispute it, it would be one thing.

A couple plays that were disputed we seen differently by the other umpire. We each saw one that was called one way, but we saw it differently from the other umpire position.

By the time the injury time out had happened, the coach was on her "last" straw anyway and she knew it. She came out, said her piece, and immediately turned back to the dugout when she got the answer.

I'm not going to let a coach keep coming out and question plays that are not reasonable to question.

I guess I would say that 2 is my number (or less if he's a jerk about it). Because to me, there's really not a concept called "reasonable to question". Close plays happen all the time. Many times a game. It serves no purpose to ANYONE for a coach to come out of the dugout to complain about one. No matter how close. The first one, I'm probably ignoring. The 2nd one I'm addressing. Calmly but to the point. "Coach, we're not going to come out here and discuss every single close call."

Coming out to ask me to check for help on a pulled foot or swipe tag - fine. Coming out to ask me a question about a rule - also fine if done reasonably and succinctly.
Coming out for an explanation when something goes wonky or there's obstruction or interference, or some rare rule comes into play - also fine.

But stopping the game for every single one of the close plays that happen to go against him ... no.

Questioning every close call?! No, won't happen.

IMHO, this is a form of showing you up. Put a stop to it early. Questioning close calls is akin to questioning balls and strikes and should be treated as such.

I've had a couple injury plays for which I stopped the clock (both were Men's SP). First was a long fly ball to dead center. Left-center running hard to get there and make the catch, but suddenly collapses and ends up sprawled on the grass. Ended up he blew one of the tendons around his knee (ACL/MCL, don't know which it was); as he was carted off the field, he said, "it's my knee, felt just like when I blew out the other one 3 years ago". We stopped the clock for about 10 minutes to get transport vehicle on the field for him.

Second instance was a hard grounder to 3rd. F5 got into position, playing down on the ball, but as he did so, the ball hit a stone or dirt clump and hopped hard into his face, square on his nose. He was unconscious before he hit the ground. It was scary seeing him go limp so quickly. He suffered a broken nose. This was also about 10 minutes of stoppage to let him get his wits before standing up to leave the field.

Nah, just drag them into DBT and get the game going :)

Strictly speaking, the coach has no right to question ANY judgment call purely on the basis of disagreeing with your judgment. He does have a right to ask about something he saw that perhaps you did not (e.g. foot off the bag, etc.), but not just whether you saw the ball arrive before the runner, etc.

Further, he has no right to a second judgment from your partner. If it is your call, your judgment is all he gets, for better or worse.

Now, if YOU believe you need to consult your partner, that's up to you, but the coach has no rights here when it is strictly a matter of judgment.

This does not mean you need to have a quick trigger, but OTOH, you do not have to put up with questioning (arguing) every close call.