kylehutson

As great as that sounds, I'm having a hard time seeing that happen in real life.

I've actually done something similar for my newer umpires. When I'm in B or C, I will subtly make a fist for "looked like a strike to me" and outstretch my fingers for "looked like a ball to me". I don't do it until after they've made their own call, and only if I think they missed one, otherwise, my hand is in a neutral position. It could be easily adapted to this, though.

Understanding that "data" is not the plural of "anecdote"... I have a cousin who is a nurse in CO that caught this. Right around 50 years old, and no other high-risk factors. This was her last Facebook post on the matter a couple of days ago: (Link to this article about long-lasting symptoms) "It’s good to know that I’m not alone and not totally losing it! Week 8 brought extreme joint pain, even more fatigue, high blood pressure, the ever present shortness of breath and lots of tears because it seems like I should be feeling better by now." Personally, I just find all this data fascinating. I work with people doing "deep learning" (where you put in LOTS of different factors) and the computer chews on it for awhile and figures out strange and unexpected "clusters" of things that coincide.

I think I've already gone through this in great detail, and I don't care to do so again. Turns out it's all moot in my case, because our governor has postponed opening by another two weeks. ...and there's not much doubt about this.

After a couple of weeks in the house, I felt like I was turning into a potato with no umpiring to do, so I started "couch to 5k" - finishing week 6 this afternoon. The way things looked like they were going to work, I'd be done right about the time for a camp I wanted to attend ... which has since been cancelled. I still hate running just for the sake of running. But it's better than the "rapid weight gain plan" I was on before I started.

So after my truthful-but-smartass answer, if I was told "we have two umpires per game - make it work", here's what I would do: I would keep one umpire (without protective gear) about 10' behind the batter. This is what we do on coach-pitch games in the rec league in my tiny town. Setup actually about 10' behind the batter at about a 45 degree angle. You won't get hit there because the ball would have to go through the batter to get to you. From there you can judge fair/foul (all the way down both lines) and plays at the plate. Have the *other* umpire behind the pitcher calling balls and strikes, and then revert to 2-umpire mechanics once the ball is hit, with the obvious exception of being in A. PU would still cover 3rd on a "normal" 2-umpire rotation, and provide a backup pair of eyes on the whole field. Communicate, communicate, and communicate!

That was the second "can't say that". The first was ___show.

You all have forgotten about the exception that occurs when the batter scores before the ball is caught. I mean, if the SS can make it to the warning track and settle under it, surely, the batter can circle all the bases in that same amount of time.

What would *I* do? Let somebody else take the game fee, because this is going to be a ... (nope, can't say that in polite company ... nope, can't say that either) no-win situation.

This. But here's what we *do* know. 1) This isn't normal, seasonal flu. It is deadlier and more easily spread. 2) Neither is this the black death, where 1/3 to 1/2 of some populations were wiped out. 3) "Normal" will change (but we don't know how much). Businesses are discovering that not everybody needs to be in the office. Giving each other a little more room in the store isles isn't much of an inconvenience. I don't live in a high population density area, but from my visits, I expect that public transportation is much more difficult to space people out, since that's really their model. 4) We simply can't keep the current structure of the economy for much longer and prevent people from working without pay. I have some radical political ideas pre-dating this crisis by a couple of years (with which I don't want to derail this conversation), which would have been quite useful now. Also, I made a prediction about 2 weeks into the stay-at-home orders and it was becoming obvious this wasn't just "a couple of weeks out of the office". I said by June 1 we would have to have hospitals overwhelmed or we would have rioting in the streets. I was off by about half (at least in some places - if this continues, you'll see more). 5) One size does not fit all. My area of rural Kansas should have a different response from NYC. But even at that, NYC may need to look different than LA, which will need to look different than Houston. Even on a personal level, we have different risks. I can feel comfortable taking a risk of working a game (and just knowing that may mean I will have to avoid contact with some extended family for a few weeks after), whereas somebody else who is living with a high-risk individual may not be comfortable taking a risk on that same exact game, even with more precautions.

I completely get that. That's why I put it out there early. If that's a requirement, they can find somebody else to work it, and I'm fine with that, too.

I understand that. That's why I'll be watching news from the tourney in MO.

Yep, it does. Looks like outdoors is a good place to be. "only a single outbreak has been reported from an outdoor environment (less than 0.3% of traced infections)."

Bad link?

I think anti-WHO sentiment is political, but be that as it may, how about this one, then, from the University of Minnesota? https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/04/data-do-not-back-cloth-masks-limit-covid-19-experts-say "cloth masks will do little, if anything, to limit spread of the disease." And yet again, the point is not to kill off this virus. Eventually, we're probably all going to get it. My state has LOTS more beds and ICU beds and ventilators than they are projected to need, at least in the short term. https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america/kansas