Wooden Bat Double

[mstaylor]

OK, so my JrLL game rains out and I get asked to fill in on a wooden bat double. Not bad, lose a single for a double five blocks from the house. Well, I am with a guy I had never worked with but am told wants to do HS next year so I figure it's a good chance  to take a look at him. 

I get there and he has one shirt but he is dressed fairly well so that's all good. I put him on the plate first, not a bad zone, timing is decent but he was nailed to the plate, never followed up 1BL once. I get a R1, I go to B, signal he has third, no recognition at all, OK, doesn't know signals, that's fine, I can fix that. Ball hit to outfield, R1 goes to third, PU nailed to plate. OK, I got it. So now R1.R3, pitcher picks R1, he takes off for second, I cover the rundown, they get him almost back to first and throw home. Rundown on R3, I am between B and first, closer to first, I turn and you guessed it, PU nailed to the plate. I bust butt over and make the call on the R3 diving back to third on the foul side, F5 turning counter clockwise and swiping at him. I got a great look from about pitcher's mound. 

I had a very busy base, especially since I was on my own. I smoked a steal at second, no idea what happened but it blew up on me. I nailed a three steals at second, an absolute banger at first,HM was not happy. 

Second game I'm on the plate, and I had a very good plate. The last batter looked at three strikes, the last right down the middle knee high. He turns and says, "That was low!" and swipes across his shin with his hand. I came up and told him to take it to the dugout, now!. He started to continue and I told him what he did was an ejectable offense and to get in the dugout. If it had been HS I would have just dumped him but thought perhaps it might be a teachable moment. I turned around and head for the pressbox to change. As I'm going up the steps, momma bear comes around the corner and she is hot. She says there is no need to yell at her son. If I need to correct him I need to pull him off to the side and talk to him. WTF? I told him that what he did was ejectable and totally unacceptable and no way was I going to " pull him off to the side" I was going to fix it on the spot. I told her that if he did it in HS I would have just dumped him. I left her sputtering. No good deed goes unpunished. Next time I will just dump him and leave it at that. 

The league president was in the pressbox and asked why I let him go? I told him I was trying to be a nice guy, well forget that. 

[LMSANS]

MST...the definition of a nice guy!

[JaxRolo]

MST= Much Sympathetic Thug

[JHSump]

How did the postgame go with your partner?

 

MST = "Master of Situational Trouble"

 

(You don't post many "stories."  I enjoyed reading it.  This story backs up your other game management posts.  More, please!)

[bam]

No good deed goes unpunished

[Aging_Arbiter]

And there you have it.  Just HAD to get the NFHS reference in there..............

 

 

"a teachable moment" 

[mstaylor]

Turns out the kid is the assigner's nephew.   I talked to him this morning and all he said was," And you didn't toss him?" His Dad is the asst coach. 

[mstaylor]

 

How did the postgame go with your partner?

 

Not as extensive as I would have liked. We are holding a clinic for them on Sunday. When my partner was on the bases the VT attempted a steal of third. My BU banged him, he beat the throw and the tag was high. The manager spread his hands and said he beat the throw. The umpire said,"No arguing, I made the call, you coach, I'll umpire." The manager was about to stroke and protested that he didn't do anything wrong. The BU repeated that he could not argue and he didn't want to hear any more. I stood at the plate and all I could think was, wow, where did that come from? 

[mtnump]

No good deed goes unpunished

+1

[zoops]

So now R1.R3, pitcher picks R1, he takes off for second, I cover the rundown, they get him almost back to first and throw home. Rundown on R3, I am between B and first, closer to first, I turn and you guessed it, PU nailed to the plate. I bust butt over and make the call on the R3 diving back to third on the foul side, F5 turning counter clockwise and swiping at him. I got a great look from about pitcher's mound. 

 

Should the call at 3rd on this be made by the PU?  

[maven]

So now R1.R3, pitcher picks R1, he takes off for second, I cover the rundown, they get him almost back to first and throw home. Rundown on R3, I am between B and first, closer to first, I turn and you guessed it, PU nailed to the plate. I bust butt over and make the call on the R3 diving back to third on the foul side, F5 turning counter clockwise and swiping at him. I got a great look from about pitcher's mound.

Should the call at 3rd on this be made by the PU?

It should be covered by whoever is taking it according to your pre-game.

maven

[zoops]

Pretty tough to pre-game everything isn't it?  I can't see how this could be PU's call.

[BigUmpire]

Pretty tough to pre-game everything isn't it?  I can't see how this could be PU's call.

???????????????????

[mstaylor]

It absolutely has to the PU's call. There is no way the base umpire can be taking the runner back to first, then have a snap throw across the infield and have the BU cover that swipe tag on the foul side of third. I'm good but not that good. When the R3 breaks the PU has to react and expect a possible rundown. That is not something you will pregame, you react when it happens. What you don't do is stand at the plate and watch the BU try to do it all. 

[zoops]

I guess I can see this working, but it seems as though it would be tough for PU to get in decent position to see a swipe tag at third. Just seems like a shortcoming of 2-man.  The way I see this in my head is that if PU gets up to third, and the runner breaks home and you end up having a close play there, you're going to be in bad position for a tag at home.  Page 56 of the NFHS manual says the BU in position B with R1 and R3 makes all calls on any play in the infield not at home.  As PU, when you see R1 getting in a rundown do you work your way up the third baseline in foul ground, not knowing if the runner will go home or back to third, and then if the throw goes home you run back home and if it goes to third you run towards third? Do you have PU take third on a bunt where R1 tries to go first to third too because the BU shouldn't be expected to make both calls?  What am I missing here?  Thanks for the insight.  

[mstaylor]

I had exactly the same play happen tonight except I was on the plate. I moved up the third base line some to read what has going to happen. The BU had the R1 side, when they threw to third after R3, I moved up and took the play. The BU, a very new guy and one I hadn't worked with before, started to try and come across, I held my hand up to call him off and I called the play. 

[Mike Prince]

I guess I can see this working, but it seems as though it would be tough for PU to get in decent position to see a swipe tag at third. Just seems like a shortcoming of 2-man.  The way I see this in my head is that if PU gets up to third, and the runner breaks home and you end up having a close play there, you're going to be in bad position for a tag at home.  Page 56 of the NFHS manual says the BU in position B with R1 and R3 makes all calls on any play in the infield not at home.  As PU, when you see R1 getting in a rundown do you work your way up the third baseline in foul ground, not knowing if the runner will go home or back to third, and then if the throw goes home you run back home and if it goes to third you run towards third? Do you have PU take third on a bunt where R1 tries to go first to third too because the BU shouldn't be expected to make both calls?  What am I missing here?  Thanks for the insight.  

 

It's a rotation, and rotations should be pre-gamed.  Don't go by the NFHS manual either, it is not very good (to be charitable).

 

Ask yourself this - as PU you see an area of the infield that your BU partner cannot cover, do you stand anchored to the plate or do you get into a better position to cover?  And you don't go all the way to 3B, you move up the line to get an angle on a play there while still being able to get back home.  It's hard to read what is going to happen and react properly if you never get out from behind the plate.