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ElPolloDiablo

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  • Your Association Name
    EBUA
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    IT Pro
  • Types/Levels of Baseball called
    10U through 18+
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  1. So I gotta get this off my chest because I have nobody else to talk to, and it is still irritating me/cracking me up. It's a weird feeling. So my three most memorable screwups are good, but the best part is two of them happened in one game last night, on successive pitches. But first, number three: Doing a 4A (highest division here) C team game solo because my partner got sick in the parking lot. It was an active game, so I'm all over the place on the field. 'round about the 4th, there is an at-bat that went about 15 pitches. It was a good fight. But the majority of the time he had two strikes on him. As I keep announcing the count, I'm saying "two strikes" until it's burned into my head. He finally walks, and the next guy comes up. First pitch is right there, and I pop up and start ringing him up and yell, "STRIIIIKE...uh...one..." I had just not reset the count in my head, I guess. That team didn't let me live it down for the rest of the game. Every first strike and they were in the dugout going, "STRIIIIIIKE...one..." They are good kids, and it was all in fun, but to make an ass of myself in front of a really good program wasn't on my list for the day. Ok, here we go. I want to preface this by saying that I was sick as a dog the week prior -- fever, aches, fatigue, sore throat, etc. -- and it was 95 degrees out. I had two games that night. I definitely didn't feel up to plate, but my first partner had to run in a hurry to get to another game afterwards, and my second was walking from somewhere and didn't want to carry his gear. So I soldiered up and took both. Absolute mistake. Second game, a 16+ between a travel team and a 3A HS summer team. I am not having a good game. I know both coaches and a lot of the fans for the travel team, so nobody was really riding me, just a handful of people chirping. But I knew I was having a garbage game and just couldn't settle myself in. I am super tight, but then randomly giving away something low or out. I was exhausted. So we get to the 5th and I have a kid in there with a 1 and 2 count. Pitch comes in a bit up and breaks late and right in there, and I pop up and start to ring him up (I punch my right hand across my body), but for some reason I cannot explain I call out, "BALL TWO!" I literally froze in the act of ringing him up. I swear to God I cannot remember my thought process. It was a total knee-buckler, and my brain completely short-circuited. I immediately just hang my head and start praying for the ground to open up and swallow me. Catcher asks, "Where was that?" I say, "It was right there, but I'm an idiot. I'm so sorry." Even the batter is asking, "Dude, are you feeling OK? You don't look good." On the very next pitch... Batter hits a grounder sharply down 3B line. It goes foul just before the bag, and I yell, "FOUL!" But while doing this, I make a "safe" sign, such as you might make when a fly ball hits the ground or with a dropped third strike. So essentially I am now pointing both fair and foul. This one at least I can sort of understand. I probably started to raise my hands to signal foul, then just stopped. At least I yelled "FOUL!" instead of just standing there with my arms out like I was trying to fly away. So there we go, all the juicy embarrassing details.
  2. Many, many times. I have tried to see it from the other guy's perspective, but I just cannot find a way to read it like that. All I can find that is relevant to the "intense discussion" is this: Then here is the comment on a fair ball: In all fairness, the guy is a basketball referee, and only recently took up baseball. I'm guessing there is a bit of confusion there. But you can't tell this dude anything.
  3. Yikes! This is a rules issue, and if it wasn't an issue in the game (I can't believe the coach on offense didn't melt down), then you should bring it up post game. But do it like this: "Hey, I think *we* screwed up that balk. I think *we* should have awarded one base to the runner." Address it as if you guys are a single entity, and you aren't putting the blame on him.
  4. This is great advice, and I appreciate you taking the time to give it. The guy in question is a problem for everyone, and most of the guys flat out refuse to work with him. But with being so short on guys to work games, our assigner has to grudgingly use him. Even still, I'd never tell my assigner not to put me with him, because I don't want to make his job any harder. I know I said above that I wouldn't, but I've reconsidered now. As for the game in question, the coach is actually a friend of mine. I've worked games for his club teams for five years now, and he and I knew each other way back when our kids were playing Little League (about 10 years or so). He's a good guy, and I don't think he would lie about something like this. Plus he's not the first coach to say something about this guy badmouthing other umpires. When we are gearing up and having our pregame, he complains endlessly about this guy or that guy. Or he goes on about how he's not getting playoff assignments, and the assigner is a jerk, etc. I've never heard him say a kind word about anyone, now that I think about it. I'm sure he talks about me with other guys he works with. All of that is to say that your advice is good, and it's better to keep a healthy dose of skepticism on hand. But knowing this guy like I do, it wouldn't surprise me in the least. Thanks again. I really do appreciate it.
  5. The guy is a head case. He thinks he is much better than he really is. I'm not joking when I say a good 3/4 of the other guys won't work with him. I do it because I don't want to make my assigner's life any more difficult than it already is. I know I said above that I wouldn't, but I've reconsidered now. The only reason my assigner uses him at all is because we are so short on guys.
  6. Thank you! My partner was absolutely adamant that I made the wrong call. I kept saying, "The definition is '...on or over foul ground when it touches the person of a...player...'" It never qualifies whether it had touched the ground anywhere else. The dude was actually trash talking me to the coach on the field during the game about it. (I learned this tidbit later.)
  7. It is an argument (I use the term more jokingly than not) that arose from a game situation, but I don't think I am accurately describing it. I wish I could diagram it.
  8. I'm not concerned about the fielder (I know his position is irrelevant), I'm concerned about where the ball is after it has bounced on fair territory. The ball never passed first or third. It bounced on fair territory; that bounce carried it across the foul line, so that it is now in the air above foul territory when 3B grabs it. It never touches foul ground, it only ever touches fair ground.
  9. Sorry, "over" meaning "on the other side of" the line. I should have said "across" instead. It is in the air after having touched the ground in fair territory. The bounce has carried it across the foul line before it has passed first or third. So now it is above foul territory, still in midair from bouncing on fair territory, and has not passed first or third. Before the ball can touch the ground in foul territory, 3B snags it in midair. So the only time the ball touched the ground was in fair territory between home and third. It never passed the imaginary line between first and third, nor did it pass third base.
  10. So I might need to restate the scenario: Ball is batted and bounces off the ground in fair territory about 1/3 of the way down the 3B line. The spin is such that, as the ball bounces, it crosses over the foul line by about a foot. Mind you, it is still in midair. It has not touched foul ground, nor has it passed third base. 3B is rushing up the line, and reaches out to grab the ball, still in midair over foul territory, but not past third base. So the ball touched fair territory, bounced in the air, and was grabbed in midair while over foul territory, but has not passed 1B or 3B.
  11. I'm in an argument with someone, and I cannot believe I even have to call for backup for this one. Situation: Batter hits a little pop up that lands a third of the way between home and third, landing on fair territory. The ball bounces, and the spin carries it up and over the foul line (still between home and third), where 3B grabs it in midair. The ball is clearly over the foul line when he catches it, but it never touches foul ground. Fair or foul? I may need to clarify here: So the ball touched the ground in fair territory before passing 3B, bounced across the foul line because of some wicked spin, and was grabbed in midair while above foul territory, but has not passed 1B or 3B. It never touched the ground in foul territory.
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