Runner on second, slapper at the plate. Nice slap. Hit to third, Good Pick-up, Good Throw, Runner out at 1st by a stride, Field umpire doesn't make a clean call because the play at third gabs his attention. Throw to third, tag and room full of dust. Runner safe. Umpire had two calls in just a few seconds.
On an infield ground ball, the basic procedure is for the base umpire to have the first play at first base, then the plate umpire has the second play at third base. The base umpire really should of had only one play to concentrate on here.
But, even when you do have two rapid calls to make...
I never could understand how an umpire could make such a meek, feeble or ambiguous call and signal that the players and coaches didn't know what he called. "Out" and "safe" are so basic, and so different from each other, that if properly executed there should NEVER be any question what the umpire was calling. This just goes back to "Umpiring 101"- basic execution of simple signals.
The umpires have a conference, The plate umpire then calls the batter out for leaving the base. He comes over to get a water and says under his breath, 'I don't know what game he was watching but the batter was out by 6', lets play ball'.
With partners like this...who needs coaches!
One of the most basic premises of umpiring is that when you're out there with a partner, you are a team. Openly criticizing your partner is perhaps the most unprofessional behavior an umpire can exhibit. We have a name for this...throwing your partner under the bus.
Now on the next close play...the base umpire's credibilty has been totally undermined (which is to say, the umpiring team's credibility has been undermined). You're just setting yourself up to have your calls questioned by the coaches, because you have already planted the seed of doubt in their minds that
these umpires aren't credible.
There's enough ways that trouble can find you on the field that you don't really need to be creating your own problems! This is simple game management- this umpire's open criticism of his partner can snowball and create more arguments, more questioning of calls and a loss of control of the game.
By the way...the plate umpire who was so critical of his partner...he just invented an imaginary rule by calling the runner out for "leaving the base". She would only be out if she left the base AND entered the dugout/deadball territory. Inventing imaginary rules is just as bad as throwing your partner under the bus!
What should of happened here is that the plate umpire could have told the base umpire what he saw on the play. But it is NOT the plate umpire's call. The call was made by the base umpire, it was his call to make, and he is the only one who can change it.
Maybe if the plate umpire just talked to the base umpire to hash that out, instead of
trashing his credibility and making up rules they could have reached the right call in a more dignified manner, one that wouldn't put them on the road to even bigger game management problems!
