Hi everyone,
I'm a third-year ump, no ejections to date.
Yesterday I was doing a men's league game, latter half of the game, team's player-coach comes to bat, runner on 2B.
First pitch is a called strike, he sort of lets out a sigh of contempt, turns to face me and says something to the effect of, "Come on. That's been a ball for my pitcher all game long. Be consistent!" This is all in a moderately raised voice, with emphasis on the word "consistent" so that pretty much everyone in the infield can hear him.He then steps out of the box.
I sort of engage him at this point, telling him I don't want to hear anything about favoring one team over another or any comments calling my integrity into question. Meanwhile - I guess while infielders are straining to hear what's going on - the runner on 2B swipes third. Time was never called.
After that and while stepping into the box, the batter says, "You've had no control over this game."
I feel like I should have ejected him there, but didn't.
Couple quetions:
1. Does this sort of behavior warrant an ejection?
2. Should I have called time during my exchange with him? I definitely could not (and didn't think twice about) sending the runner back, since I never called time.
Thanks for your input!