IABlue

Move up to some higher levels of ball so you no longer have to worry about or deal with the idiots involved in small potatoes ball like this.

Another name for that is "inconsistency." Inconsistency is when you miss pitches. I'm saying grab a strike you may pass on just to keep guys from standing there waiting to walk. Kinda like that 3-0 pitch, where it looks like and remember I said looks like, they may go an extra 1/2 ball width in all directions in some games I have seen? Wasn't there an old saying that you don't "walk" to the big leagues. Of course now with Billy Bean ball, maybe you do "walk" to the big leagues. People that alter their zone based on the batter's count are by definition inconsistent umpires. I have never understood why people do that. Why even make the pitcher throw the ball when it's 3-0 then? Just go from 3-0 to 3-1 and save everyone a little time.

Another name for that is "inconsistency." Inconsistency is when you miss pitches. Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...no it's not. "Inconsistency" is calling a pitch one thing in one inning, and then another thing in another inning. Whether you are inadvertently blowing pitches, or intentionally missing them (as in your example), it all adds up to the same thing.

I think the phrase "Shut up and umpire the game" applies here.

Luckily the umpire watched the whole play, had excellent mechanics, and was sure. More like he was a hell of a lot closer to actually see it. No need to be a smart ass.

I know Riz pretty well. Great guy. Actually had the chance to umpire with him at a national a few years back. I've had Craig at clinics and he is great as well. Never met Robinson.

Wow, I'm not about to pull out a map, but that sounds like it is quite literally in the middle of nowhere. Who were the clinicians? I have been to 3 NUS's, but I think 2005 was my last.

Another name for that is "inconsistency."

I am not convinced 100% that the runner COMPLETELY lost contact with the bag.

I've never used sunscreen once in 16 years of calling ball, and I seriously doubt that I ever will.

Dugout restrictions are nothing. We don't even have to report them in my area. I've yet to have one since my state adopted the rule, but I wouldn't even think twice about doing it. The way it was described to me is that it's just like the first technical in a basketball game. No big deal. It's basically a warning to watch yourself or your gone. I literally would not spend a single second of worry over a dugout restriction, even if I had several of them in a week. What exactly is the huge deal? Guy doesn't get to wave runners in from 3rd? If the guy popped off to me like was described in the OP, he would find himself in the parking lot, not the dugout. You did that guy a favor, IMO.

I call a HUGE zone in JV and small school varsity ball. The reasoning is described perfectly in the OP: over 50 runs scored in a doubleheader? Are you effing kidding me? What did that take, about 6 hours? No way in hell I'm going to be out on a ball field that long. BTW, the dirty little secret at just about every single level of ball is that fans, coaches, and players WANT strikes to be called. Just be consistent. Most of the bitching that I hear from coaches/assigners/players about other umps is that their zones are too tight. Nobody likes 2 hour games. Nobody.

Wow, that was something truly unusual.

That looked really awkward. I thought he was going to fall over at first. Anyone else not see a tag there? The great timing on that play was by U1.

It is not against the rules to be out of the baseline. Ever. This runner was called out for being out of the basePATH. There's a difference. It also looks like he was tagged anyway, but either way, an interesting mechanic that I had never seen before.

There is no way in a million years that I would have made the out of the box call after the coach showed me up like that. Absolutely no way in hell. I don't care if he's out there shaking hands with the pitcher, I've got him in the box. The comment from the fans about your car, what was that? Like they were threatening to vandalize your vehicle? Must be a class operation at that school. Sounds like an interesting game. I don't think I have that much crap go on in an entire season, let alone a single game.

You guys that take the JV level so serious are really cute. Kind of like an adorable little puppy.

As long as you don't point down for a check swing appeal.

Most umpires tend to verbalize way too much, i.e. on every obvious call. Verbalization should be used a lot less frequently by most umpires. The vast majority of plays call themselves, and a good crisp signal does a lot more to convey to people involved in the game what's going on than trying to verbalize something that the vast majority of participants and spectators can't even hear anyway.

I don't even carry my lineup card holder and pen onto the field for sub-varsity ball. I will flat-out tell a coach in freshman or JV ball that tries to hand me a card that I don't want it. What's the point? Our JV games are a lot like what the coach from Tennessee describes.

False. Unless it's a play at the plate at the very end of the game that represents either the tying or winning run, you are completely incorrect. So you simply proved that I was correct. In like 0.000000000000000000000001% of cases, and even then it's extremely debatable, i.e. you are honestly contending that an entire game is rendered meaningless by a single call? Either way, it's a pretty dumb argument to make.

False. Unless it's a play at the plate at the very end of the game that represents either the tying or winning run, you are completely incorrect.

Let me guess, you had a single and they were playing a double? What makes that a great story is that it's a once-in-a-lifetime event.

How do you guys know who the umpires are for a college game beforehand?

The umpire was in fine position and looked like he had a decent look at the play. When I first watched this at live speed it sure looked like a safe to me as the fielder did a super $h1tty job of applying a clean tag, especially considering that the ball beat the runner there by a month and a half. You also have the factor that the baserunner made an extremely stupid decision to try an advance an extra base here. I generally tend to side with the defense in such a situation on any kind of close play.