Unfortunate partner

[detailshp]

Well, I had it happen last night, and I thought I did ok.

Arrived my customary 40 minutes before game time and a VERY NICE co-worker who I had never seen before or heard of is already there in full uniform ( bases ) ready to greet me. Ok, thats good.

He proceeds to tell me during the course of our pregame meeting and discussion about he length of service ( over 22 years ) and how he's been coming to this school for at least 15. So, I am thinking, cool, this should be a fairly simple pregame, and a nice smooth working relationship, and an smooth game. I go over what I like to do at the plate, our signals, etc, etc, he's nodding in agreement.

Once the game starts, this guy is just plain awful. A few times I am looking down at him in the "A" position, and hes standing in fair territory. Mechanics are wrong, only flashes back or acknowledges about 10 percent of my signals, and every one if his "out" calls starts with him spreading his hands apart like starting a safe mechanic and then ends with him throwing his right hand up in the air.

However, this guy is as nice as the day is long. Friendly, accomodating to the coaches, pleasant, but he just doesnt have much skill.

A couple of times I had a coach come to me, and I simply told them, " coach that is a judgement call, its his call to make, and he made it. He was the closest to the action." They were asking for the inevitable "appeal" and I told them they can certainly go out and talk to him. The coaches just shook their heads and said, "no, its ok." They knew.

The only thing I guess that bothered me was I had a lot of batted balls that could have hit the batter in the box, and this guy never once moved a muscle to help me with any calls. Other than that, I was glad the game was over, and thankful no coach decided to blow up my partner. ( and me in the process )

[SnareDrum]

Sounds like you handled that pretty good (well?). I don't know if this guy is a "Smitty", but indeed, his heart is definitely deep in the game. At least in the future if you get him again, you'll know what to expect.

Besides the mechanics you mentioned, was he hustling and getting some good angles? Did he blow any calls?

[detailshp]

Every call he made except for a pickoff attempt confused coaches ( and me ) because his natural ( I guess ) motion was to start a safe mechanic, and then do what I said earlier. I was glad he spent a lot of time in the B position, so he wouldnt get caught too far out of position. We never had a rotation to home for him, even though I went out to third quite a few times. Catchers were airmailing throws down to second most of the time, and it was a sloppy game that wasnt that close. Therefore I think I dodged a bullet on that one. He seemed to be hustling, and as far as the calls go, I thought he only kicked 2 for sure.

He really was a nice guy. Kinda like the kind old grampa who nobody can ever get mad at because he' s into it, and is genuinely a nice guy.

Thinking about it, he certainly could have been an asshat who because of his experience could have just blown everyone off. Thank the Lord he wasn't that, I would have had a riot on my hands.