C'mon Dude! Spectator Interference

[Velho]

Nobody on, shot down the RF line, Diamondbacks Ball-Dude (that does appear to be his official title) tries to field it but misses. RF eases up but then plays on to start a relay and get BR out 3B. (h/t @MadMax).

4 nice takeaways (not putting words in his mouth but these are heavily informed by Max):

- Post umpire conference, PU explains the call using rulebook terminology.

- U1 had fair and then, I suppose, knowing the field is tight (unlike some of our "oh yeah, there is a gate that won't close down there" fields) abandons tracking the ball to get BR's 1B touch.

- On slowmo you can see that U2 and PU had the INT and called Time. Primary responsibility of that ball is U1 but both used their minimal responsibility / adequate time to watch the ball all the way as secondary coverage (fortunately!). 

- So, that begs the question, why did U3 get such tunnel vision he didn't see Time was called? U2 is not far off his line of sight to the ball. Would have been nice not to have the added confusion from banging the Out and then having to unwind it.

 

 

 

[SeeingEyeDog]

How hard is it to tell your authorized personnel...LOOK AT THE UMPIRES. This is what a fair signal looks like. This is what a foul signal looks like. DO NOT touch a fair ball. If you are uncertain if it is fair or foul DO NOT touch the ball.

~Dawg

[MadMax]

Thanks @Velho... And especially for adding the enhanced effects! I'll be using this when teaching 3-man, and the importance of the wing umpires to stay with a bounding ball past them until the ball is secured. 

Also, this is a lesson for all of us, via Alan Porter, on using rulebook terminology to explain the ruling / judgement. That ball-dude was authorized personnel on the field. So too are the ODH, the BCs, or any media (ie. camera operators) that were designated by the league / conference / event for that game. An additional lesson is regarding the importance of staying aware of the (approximate) location and status of the ball, and what your partners are doing. Granted, we have different ball and call responsibilities as a play develops, but aside from the "pivot in", there is no other movement by umpires that should take an umpire's awareness from those other elements. It would appear that U3 was overly focusing on the throw and the BR approaching, and putting himself in an optimum position / angle that he didn't see U2 or PU making a TIME mechanic / signal. 

So this brings up a question – if F9 hadn't had such a quick-fire cannon, and Giménez had managed to get to 3B safely... would he have been able to keep the triple?

[MadMax]

5 minutes ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

How hard is it to tell your authorized personnel...LOOK AT THE UMPIRES.

In fairness to those folks, watch the replay again, and you tell me where the ball is when Captain Cool #28 gives his Super-Stylin' Fair mechanic. 

Timing... ya know. It's everything. 🙄

 

[SeeingEyeDog]

10 minutes ago, MadMax said:

In fairness to those folks, watch the replay again, and you tell me where the ball is when Captain Cool #28 gives his Super-Stylin' Fair mechanic. 

Timing... ya know. It's everything. 🙄

 

So, in other words...no one, including the authorized personnel knew one way or another due to the umpire's sub-optimal timing whether it was fair or foul. Still easy...don't touch the ball until the umpire signals foul. If he doesn't signal anything, if they have sub-optimal timing and signal it late or if they have optimal timing and signal it fair...don't touch the ball.

Did you ever see "Apocalypse Now"?

"Never get out of the boat. Absolutely God damn right...unless you are going all the way."

Same, same...don't touch the damn ball.

~Dawg

[Velho]

4 minutes ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

...don't touch the ball.

If feel you brother, I feel you.

Separately, um,you doing ok? Sunday is a day of rest and relaxation my man.

 

[jimurrayalterego]

So I'm confused. U1 has a fly/linedrive past 1B down the line for fair foul. He turns. He has gone out. He signals while turning back in. Why come look back in? PU has 1B and runner. He should have had the INT and U2 and PU backed him up. That's my understanding of what should happen in 4-man