Suspended game?

[FleasOf1000Camels]

I had something come up the other night that reminded me of a strange situation that occurred several years ago.  I thought it would make an interesting topic to discuss...so here goes.

 

My partner and I were scheduled to work a 13u travel game.  A few days before that game the home team's coach called me and said they wanted to bump the start time an hour earlier so they could complete a game that had been suspended by bad weather a few weeks earlier.  Sure, no problem.

 

At the plate conference we went over the re-start situation for the suspended game.  Smith is the runner on first, Jones is at bat with one out and a count of 1-2.  We are in the bottom of the 4th inning.  Everybody is in agreement.  Almost as an afterthought, I asked "oh, by the way, what's the score?".  Home team coach says "we're tied at 4, right" (he's got a big smile on his face).  Visiting coach says "nice try, we're up 4-2."..."oh yeah, you're right" replies home coach. "I thought it was worth a shot."  They both laugh it off, shake hands and off we go.

 

As the pitcher is taking his warm-ups, I'm going through my normal pre-game routine, rubbing up a couple of pearls and clearing my mind...suddenly it hits me.  If we're in the BOTTOM of the 4th inning, why is the HOME team in the field?  I walk over to the 3rd base dugout and pose this question to the home coach.  He says "the original game was at THEIR place, so they are the home team...we'll he home for the other game."  OK, that makes sense to me.  The catcher has just shouted "coming down", so I hustled back to the plate to get it rolling.

 

As the infielders are tossing it around that last time, I have an epiphany. Altho this league uses FED as their default code, their league specific rules include several over-rides, and I'm thinking that one of those over-rides was that a game is considered complete if 4 innings are played or 3 1-2 with the home team in the lead.  "No"  I said to myself "that must not be right...surely the home team's manager wouldn't have allowed the game to be suspended when he was in the lead of a game that ought to have been considered complete."

 

I kept it to myself, but throughout that inning the question kept popping back in to my head.  After that half inning I had a quiet conversation with my partner.  He said "you know...I think you're right...this game should NOT have been suspended."  We decided to just 'let sleeping dogs lie'...the coaches were both happy, the kids were playing ball, it was a beautiful evening, AND we were getting paid for 2 games.

 

What would YOU have done?

 

PS:  The visiting team rallied to take the lead in the 6th, but the home team came back and won.

PPS:  When I got home I looked up their league rule on their web site.  I was correct, the game should have been considered complete after 4 (or 3 1-2 with the home team in the lead.)

[zebra2955]

I believe your partner was right "let sleeping dogs lie"

 

Home team still won and you got paid for 2

[Rich Ives]

You shouldn't have switched who was batting in which half of the inning either. They switched nomenclatures improperly, but not the real situation. You should have used the original visitor/home setup - it's the same game after all.

 

That said I think "visitor" was ahead when the game was suspended because the ones they are calling "home" now were "visitor" when the game stopped. So it really is suspended, not over.

[FleasOf1000Camels]

@Rich Ives.

 

I think you mis-read the op.

Nobody switched the team's batting innings.

 

Let me break this down from a fundamental standpoint...

 

The teams were Spartans and Trojans.

The original game was at the Spartans home field, so they remained the HOME team even when the game was resumed later on the Trojans home field.

I was unaware of the fact that the original game was at the Spartan's field, and ASSUMED that since we were playing on the Trojans home field that the Trojans were the home team.  That's why I (incorrectly) identified the Trojan's manager as the HOME manager in the OP...and why I was confused when the Trojans took the field in the BOTTOM of the inning.

Once it was explained to me that the Spartans were actually the home team for this game, that opened the door to the next question; why was the game not considered complete since it qualified (under their league rules) as a complete game. 

 

If at the time of the plate conference I had been aware of the fact that the Spartans were actually the designated HOME team, and in the lead, we might have caught it and handled it differently...but that was not the case.

[Rich Ives]

OK. Gotcha now.

[Magic]

Both coaches wanted to finish the game. You weren't the original umpires. Not your problem. And if the Home team would have lost it would have been the HC fault for not knowing the rules. And you got paid for 2. Bonus for you.

[umpcoachfather]

you should have took the pay, told the VT they had won, game over and then went to eat and then came back for the next game.