Straight-lined AGAIN?!?

[agdz59]

Today I had at least three instances of being straight-lined as BU in a 2-man. Time and time again I was in the wrong position knowing my partner would be no help.

1. In B with R1. Hot shot goes right past me to F4. I turn and follow the ball.  F4 snags it and immediately swipes at R1 behind him.

2. In C with R1, R2.  Fly to F8 for the out. R2 has gone half way and immediately returns. Throw comes in and you can draw a line between me, R2 sliding hands first, and F4 on the bag receiving the throw.  When the throw arrives, R2's body is between me and his hands. Have they reached the bag?  This one I know is on me.  As soon as I saw the catch and sensed R2's return, I should have taken as many steps as possible toward 2B to get an angle.  I remained flat footed after I made the out call.

3. R3, 2 outs, I'm in C when the batter bunts down 3B line.  R3 has come a third of the way before retreating. F1 fields the ball and throws to F5 as R3 goes in head first with both arms extended.  The ball beats him but is high.  Did F5 bring the ball down on a hand or between the hands?  Can't tell, I'm too far away.  Third base coach is sure its between the hands and my partner at the plate tells me "All I saw was cleats and butt."

Two of those three had a material impact on the game.  The calls I made aren't important.  The point is I didn't have a good look but made the best call I could.  It just bugs me that the plays affected the outcome.  I'm wondering if / what I could have done differently to get a better look or indication one way or the other.

Thoughts?

[Richvee]

1.  Tags by middle infielders on passing runners are tough. Once you notice there’s going to be a tag attempt, all you can do is take a step or two to one side or the other to get a better look. Besides that, take your time read the body language of the runner and the fielder. Did the runner stop running?  Hang his head in a dejected way?  Did the fielder keep chasing the runner…. Or make a second swipe at the runner?  Sometimes they call the play themselves. 
 

2.  R1 r2… your partner has a tag up of r2 at 3b. Don’t stand in C to call catch/ no catch. On the fly ball to f8, you need to get somewhere around the cutout at 2B. Watch the catch/ no catch. Once it’s caught, you can rotate from there to get a good look at the returning runners touch and the ball entering the fielders glove. 
 

3. from “c”, once the ball is bunted, you should’ve taking a step or two forward. Once it’s fielded, read the fielder, if he’s going to 1b, a few quick steps in that direction should get you in a decent spot for the play at first. Once you see he’s going after r3 after you’ve already taken a step or two toward, start towards the 45’ line of 3b line. This should give you the best possible angle for the tag back Into 3rd. Whatever you do it’s going to be tough if not impossible to see if the tag came down on, or between the runners hands. Unless it’s a swim move where you know the runner got around a glove, I’d lean towards an out. 

[noumpere]

3 hours ago, agdz59 said:

Thoughts?

Now that you've seen these plays AND thought about them, you'll get more of them right the next time.  Way too many umpires just shrug it off and never learn and repeat the same errors over and over again time after time

[SeeingEyeDog]

@agdz59, we are expected to be perfect on our first day...and continue to improve.

There are limitations in 2-man. If 2-man was the best system, it would dominate the profession. (And oh by the way, 3man, 4man and 6man crew guys get flatlined from time to time, too!) The first step to correcting a problem is identifying a problem, understanding our role in the problem and continuing to work to be our best by thinking about what we could be doing differently the next time.

Like, @noumpere, I commend you for admitting you were not your best. I commend you again for discussing it in a public forum. And for wanting to do better. Strive for excellence, always...and also set realistic expectations of yourself and your abilities. If you abide by this discipline, eventually your reputation will precede you. Oh...that's agdz59 out there...ok...nevermind, I'm not going out to argue that one. (Hey, that's the dream, right?)

When you are flatlined on tag plays focus on the glove and as much of the arm extending from that glove. It is of course possible to make a tag on a runner and never see the glove, arm or wrist wiggle, bend or flex. By rule, assuming you have secure possession of the baseball in the glove and only a wayward lace of the glove contacts the runner off the base (not running through 1B)...that's a tag. In most, not all, tags there is usually an indication down the arm, at the wrist, on the glove itself...a wiggle, bend, or flex something that suggests there was contact and or friction between the glove (with secure possession) and the runner's body. Regardless of your call, come up a little bigger than you normally would when you are flatlined. If you have no tag, give a safe signal twice. If you have a tag, come up from your set position (because we don't make calls on the move) and take two steps towards where the tag happened, point definitively with your left index finger where in the air the tag was (if it's at the shoulder you are pointing up high, if it's on the calf you are pointing lower), grab that out hammer mechanic and loud as you can, "That's a tag! On the [insert body part] He's out!" You gotta' sell the bejesus out of that call. The coach may still come out, the coach may eject himself because after all it's still a judgement call...but sell the bejesus out of that call.

~Dawg