Blew two positions last night...

[ErichKeane]

14U "Senior American" NFHS rules (that is, the 2nd tier of 14 year olds). 

All alone on this one, I had the time free so I contacted the assigner same-day who gave me the game, else it wasn't happening! 

I ended up messing up two plays on mechanics, but would love advise on how I should have handled these at the time.

BUT, late in the game, bottom 5th, 1 out, R3. 
Sharp hit grounder to F3 RIGHT on the line.  I take a quick step to 1BL-extended to get the fair/foul.  Left-handed F3 fields it at the back of the dirt, and his momentum carries him into foul ground by about 2 feet.  Team starts yelling at him to throw home, so I switch to 3BL-extended to cover the play at the plate.  As soon as I get there, F3 gets up and decides to break for 1B (F1 did NOT move to cover).  At this moment, I'm behind the play, so I book it toward the fence and up the line to give myself SOME semblance of angle.  In a close-but-not-bang-bang play, F3 dives at the base with his glove, glove comes down before the runner gets to 1B, then lifts the glove up to show me he's got the ball still. 

From my admittedly poor perspective, I thought he landed it on the far-side of the bag, so I called the BR out.  Both base coaches reacted, but 3B coach (and head coach) said, "Noooo.... he missed the base!" (in his defense, that was all there was to it from them).  I knew immediately that I didn't have a great angle on the glove as it was far side of the base, and I was behind the play. I likely would have done better getting inside, but I guess I could see it going bad the OTHER way (if F3 dove to the outside of the base).  Obviously would have been a non-issue in 2 man 😕

 

2nd Situation:
Top 6th, 1 out, R3.  Wild pitch for ball 4 gets by F2 who turns quickly toward the 1B side, so I dump-out of the way to the 3B side.  Ball finds a pole off the backstop, and bounces in front of F1, who fields it.  F2 turns and gets to the plate in time for the throw, gloves it, and gets it, 2 handed, in front of the foot of the incoming runner.  I stayed 1BL extended (since thats where I was, I didn't see time to get back over).  In the mess of legs/gloves/hands, catcher holds the ball up with his bare hand a split-second later.  Because of the mess and now having F2s body in the way, I didn't see the glove/hand between the tag and the ball being lifted up.  I called 'out'.  1B/offensive dugout starts yelling, "nooo, he dropped it! but he dropped it!" (not at me in particular?).  Coach called time and asked if he dropped it, and I just said I didn't see him drop it.

Another case where I think I would have been better to have been elsewhere, so gone to 3BL-extended, and rotated toward the field as the throw came in to see the 'front' of the play, rather than looking over F2's shoulder.  BUT again, I don't know at which step of everything I could have done better.

 

In the end, a scoreless bottom 6 and top 7 resulted in home team winning by 1.  Coaches showed sportsmanship during all of this, so I'm really the only one being too hard on myself.  During the post-game team meeting, I heard a visiting player lamenting my call at the plate (in that they would have gotten to play more) 😕  Both were a case where I wish I had a partner to talk it over with, but the realities of umpiring: I was alone.

[mw94]

You didn't blow anything!! Don't beat yourself up  there is No such thing as proper 1 man mechanics in baseball especially on a full sized diamond ! you try your best & they have to live with it!

 

[wolfe_man]

54 minutes ago, mw94 said:

You didn't blow anything!! Don't beat yourself up  there is No such thing as proper 1 man mechanics in baseball especially on a full sized diamond ! you try your best & they have to live with it!

 

Agree with this here.

It's a full-size diamond.  All you owe to anyone is to hustle and give your best efforts.  You're not going to be in the proper position always and you're not going to have the best looks on everything, but then two-man doesn't always afford that either.  All you can do is give it your best shot and try to learn what you can do to make it better next time out. 

Kudos for being willing to accept solos.  I'm growing more weary of them by the day.  You need a partner for so many reasons.

[ErichKeane]

Just now, wolfe_man said:

Agree with this here.

It's a full-size diamond.  All you owe to anyone is to hustle and give your best efforts.  You're not going to be in the proper position always and you're not going to have the best looks on everything, but then two-man doesn't always afford that either.  All you can do is give it your best shot and try to learn what you can do to make it better next time out. 

Kudos for being willing to accept solos.  I'm growing more weary of them by the day.  You need a partner for so many reasons.

Thanks to both of you!

Coaches seem to be understanding, and reasonably just glad to have an umpire, particularly at the 'lower' skill levels (we have National, American, Federal, Federal is top), but Federal coaches sometimes take it a bit more seriously. 

Overall, I'm the 2nd most critical person of my performance on the field (1st is, of course, the parents who sit behind the plate and apparently have a much better view of the strike zone than i do).

 

 

[wolfe_man]

1 hour ago, ErichKeane said:

. 

Overall, I'm the 2nd most critical person of my performance on the field (1st is, of course, the parents who sit behind the plate and apparently have a much better view of the strike zone than i do).

 

 

LOL - that and they never miss a pitch either!

I think I read it on here the other day, but true regardless of where I read it.  I guess I'll have to wait until my next game to have my first perfect game. 

I'm always trying for a perfect game, but haven't had one yet.  I have been a part of a no-hitter (7 innings - HS Varsity) though, as I'm sure many of you probably have.

[Velho]

2 hours ago, wolfe_man said:

I have been a part of a no-hitter (7 innings - HS Varsity) though, as I'm sure many of you probably have.

I have not personally as an umpire but funny story: I heard through the grapevine that a friend had plate for a perfect game at LL Majors. I said something to him and he didn't really know what I was talking about. "Huh, yeah I wondered since it felt like a lot of K's and not many walks.". Bucket list and he didn't even know it. LOL

[BigBlue4u]

EK

1. Don't beat yourself up. You did the best you could. 2.  They don't hire four umpires in MLB because it looks good. 

[ErichKeane]

11 hours ago, BigBlue4u said:

EK

1. Don't beat yourself up. You did the best you could.

Thanks!  I guess I was just hoping there was something I could learn from this other than "1 man on the big field sucks".  I definitely hustle on every play to try to make sure I'm in the right position for everything, so being THIS far out of position on both plays was disappointing.

 

11 hours ago, BigBlue4u said:

 2.  They don't hire four umpires in MLB because it looks good. 

It does though

[The Man in Blue]

On 5/19/2022 at 3:37 PM, Velho said:

I have not personally as an umpire but funny story: I heard through the grapevine that a friend had plate for a perfect game at LL Majors. I said something to him and he didn't really know what I was talking about. "Huh, yeah I wondered since it felt like a lot of K's and not many walks.". Bucket list and he didn't even know it. LOL

I would be this guy.  I don’t pay that much attention to that stuff.  My indicator has strikes, balls, outs, and innings (which I don’t use for innings).  I don’t have runs, hits, and errors.

[ErichKeane]

2 minutes ago, The Man in Blue said:

I would be this guy.  I don’t pay that much attention to that stuff.  My indicator has strikes, balls, outs, and innings (which I don’t use for innings).  I don’t have runs, hits, and errors.

I'm the same way!  Unless I am in a game that requires me to keep track of the score (our Tourneys have the umpire submit a scoresheet at the end), I don't even know the score unless there is a scoreboard.  I end up having to ask the scorekeeper before top-of-last the score to see if we are going to need a bottom-of-inning, or extra innings.  Once or twice I've forgotten and ended up with kids taking the field in the 8th and taking a moment to figure out why!

[Velho]

36 minutes ago, The Man in Blue said:

My indicator has strikes, balls, outs, and innings (which I don’t use for innings)

Ok, I'll bite... audience voice: "what do you use it for?!?"

[BLWizzRanger]

31 minutes ago, ErichKeane said:

  I end up having to ask the scorekeeper before top-of-last the score to see if we are going to need a bottom-of-inning, or extra innings.  Once or twice I've forgotten and ended up with kids taking the field in the 8th and taking a moment to figure out why!

Usually when I ask the scorekeeper the score - say wondering how close we are to a run rule - I jinx my crew and we end of doing more innings. My last one was yesterday as I was the HP at a funeral (game was boring and had no energy as it was a consolation game).  8-0 in the fourth, I ask since there is a 10 run rule for the end of the fourth (tournament rules).  The team ends up winning 9-8 in the seventh.

Don't tempt the Gods or they will make the impossible happen. 

[The Man in Blue]

4 hours ago, BLWizzRanger said:

Usually when I ask the scorekeeper the score - say wondering how close we are to a run rule - I jinx my crew and we end of doing more innings. My last one was yesterday as I was the HP at a funeral (game was boring and had no energy as it was a consolation game).  8-0 in the fourth, I ask since there is a 10 run rule for the end of the fourth (tournament rules).  The team ends up winning 9-8 in the seventh.

Don't tempt the Gods or they will make the impossible happen. 

That — absolutely that.  I need to sacrifice some rum to Jobu because I have offended the baseball gods somewhere this summer.

This weekend: 8 straight games in mid-90s heat.  “Relief umpire” never showed up.

Not only could we not get a run rule game, but we ended up running an hour behind.  8:40 championship started at 9:30.

Championship game was a TWO INNING crapfest.  The visitors took 44 minutes to score 14 runs in the top of the first.  The home team wanted argue every call (yeah, coach, my strike zone is causing your players to throw the ball all over the field).

Two innings.  Nine pitchers.  Six catchers.  I have no clue what the final even was.  It was 11:30 when I got home and I only had a ten minute drive.

 

[The Man in Blue]

4 hours ago, Velho said:

Ok, I'll bite... audience voice: "what do you use it for?!?"

If I use it, runs in the half inning.  The house league I work has a run limit.  The tournaments I work have us keep a card, so I track runs by the half inning and then write it down.

Other possible answers: counting the hot moms in the bleachers; counting the coaches’ blunders; remembering the price of nachos.

[Vegas_Ump]

I have a TShirt I shared with Virginia State and Euro Regional umps that says "I blow 'em as I sees 'em!"  Reminds me of my own fallibility.  

If you give the game all you got, ya done good!

Mike

Las Vegas

[Kevin_K]

3 hours ago, Vegas_Ump said:

I have a TShirt I shared with Virginia State and Euro Regional umps that says "I blow 'em as I sees 'em!"  Reminds me of my own fallibility.  

If you give the game all you got, ya done good!

Mike

Las Vegas

I would not feel comfortable wearing that shirt. Some might consider the phrasing to mean something completely different.

Just sayin.......

[834k3r]

I'm not the most senior guy here, so my consolation may be weak.

 

Especially with the play at home, you did what we're all taught:  catcher moves, we clear the other way. Necessarily, that put you in a 1BX position with (as you said) not enough time to move.

In my time umpiring, I've learned mechanics and positioning are all about maximizing coverage and getting the best look as possible for the most common plays. That doesn't mean they're fool-proof. For what it's worth, I don't think any of us would say we would have done any differently than you.

[ArchAngel72]

On 5/26/2022 at 11:33 AM, Vegas_Ump said:

I have a TShirt I shared with Virginia State and Euro Regional umps that says "I blow 'em as I sees 'em!"  Reminds me of my own fallibility.  

If you give the game all you got, ya done good!

Mike

Las Vegas

 

Sorry side bar

 

Is there a difference between kicking one and blowing one?