The most fucked-up call in umpiring history

[JohnU]

Indy league game last night in the American Association.
Wichita up 2 games to 1 over Winnipeg, bottom of the 9th, 2 out, Winnipeg down to their last out with a guy on 2nd base. Ground ball to the 3B who fires across, gets the out and the Wichita team starts to dogpile for winning the league title.

NOT SO FAST.

The ump goes out, waves everyone off, since he has somehow called a balk on the pitcher. Seriously, back to the dugout. Next guy rips a double and the score is now tied.

They go 17 innings and Winnipeg wins.

Game 5 is tonight in Manitoba.

A fucking BALK!

 

[soxfan1468927]

Indy league game last night in the American Association.
Wichita up 2 games to 1 over Winnipeg, bottom of the 9th, 2 out, Winnipeg down to their last out with a guy on 2nd base. Ground ball to the 3B who fires across, gets the out and the Wichita team starts to dogpile for winning the league title.

NOT SO FAST.

The ump goes out, waves everyone off, since he has somehow called a balk on the pitcher. Seriously, back to the dugout. Next guy rips a double and the score is now tied.

They go 17 innings and Winnipeg wins.

Game 5 is tonight in Manitoba.

A fucking BALK!

Well...did he balk?

 

[JohnU]

Well...did he balk?

I didn't see where he did but I think the Wichita dugout was too evidently stunned to even argue. the pitcher had tossed his glove aside and he just stood there with his mouth open when the ump told him to get back on the mound.

Pete Rose Jr. is their manager, BTW ...
Indy league umpires are somewhat unpredictable. I never even heard which ump called it and you have to realize we don't have the benefit of 99 cameras and 25 replay angles on these video streams. The quality of the P by P is OK but it's not even close to top drawer. In any case, Wichita lost the game because they went a bunch of innings against a worn out reliever and didn't score a run.
It was still a call that I'd have stuck in my pocket if I was an ump.

 

[soxfan1468927]

I didn't see where he did but I think the Wichita dugout was too evidently stunned to even argue. the pitcher had tossed his glove aside and he just stood there with his mouth open when the ump told him to get back on the mound.

Pete Rose Jr. is their manager, BTW ...
Indy league umpires are somewhat unpredictable. I never even heard which ump called it and you have to realize we don't have the benefit of 99 cameras and 25 replay angles on these video streams. The quality of the P by P is OK but it's not even close to top drawer. In any case, Wichita lost the game because they went a bunch of innings against a worn out reliever and didn't score a run.
It was still a call that I'd have stuck in my pocket if I was an ump.

Yeah it would just be hard for me to call it a bad call when I can't see it. If he balked, he balked. Maybe the umpire was late to call it, but without video I can't judge.

 

[Mebert]

I don't see the balk

Independent league team loses game in 17 innings after thinking it won championship

 

[JohnU]

Yeah it would just be hard for me to call it a bad call when I can't see it. If he balked, he balked. Maybe the umpire was late to call it, but without video I can't judge.

All in all, I got no dog in the fight. I just hate to see a game affected that way.
I watched the pitcher before and after, not really seeing anything that could suggest he was balking. He has a fairly standard "jiggle the glove" move to the set and stop, but that's not deceiving. Since it came during the beginning of the celebration, there wasn't a defined moment to say, 'yeah, he balked.' The runner was on 2nd base and he wasn't really holding him on because it was a 2-out, final out hitter at the plate.

 

[Mebert]

All in all, I got no dog in the fight. I just hate to see a game affected that way.
I watched the pitcher before and after, not really seeing anything that could suggest he was balking. He has a fairly standard "jiggle the glove" move to the set and stop, but that's not deceiving. Since it came during the beginning of the celebration, there wasn't a defined moment to say, 'yeah, he balked.' The runner was on 2nd base and he wasn't really holding him on because it was a 2-out, final out hitter at the plate.

The Ump messed up pretty bad here, if he was calling a balk he never should have crouched down after like he was trying to gauge a strike. That added to the confusion for sure. If he had stepped back and called balk right away and then let the live ball play it would still be a bad call, but not so spirit crushing for the pitcher.

 

[JohnU]

The Ump messed up pretty bad here, if he was calling a balk he never should have crouched down after like he was trying to gauge a strike. That added to the confusion for sure. If he had stepped back and called balk right away and then let the live ball play it would still be a bad call, but not so spirit crushing for the pitcher.

Evidently there is something of a rule that says the offensive team can "choose" if the outcome of the play is better than the balk, which makes no sense to me, unless they are equating a balk with an illegal pitch. A balk occurs before or during the delivery, which should have been called at once.
Watching the catcher's reaction, it's clear the ump has said, 'hold on here ...' then calls the balk because the catcher reacts after the mask is removed. If the balk is just late being called, then the play has begun, which means the balk didn't officially occur. If it was an illegal pitch, then the balls-strikes count is affected, not the baserunning.

 

[Mebert]

Evidently there is something of a rule that says the offensive team can "choose" if the outcome of the play is better than the balk, which makes no sense to me, unless they are equating a balk with an illegal pitch. A balk occurs before or during the delivery, which should have been called at once.
Watching the catcher's reaction, it's clear the ump has said, 'hold on here ...' then calls the balk because the catcher reacts after the mask is removed. If the balk is just late being called, then the play has begun, which means the balk didn't officially occur. If it was an illegal pitch, then the balls-strikes count is affected, not the baserunning.

Absolutely the ball is still live if the pitcher releases it after a balk call, but the ump has no need to call a strike at that point. No reason to crouch down. He is supposed to put his arms up to announce the balk as soon as the balk happens. instead in the video he does not call the balk until after the batter is thrown out.

 

[navamind]

I didn't see where he did but I think the Wichita dugout was too evidently stunned to even argue. the pitcher had tossed his glove aside and he just stood there with his mouth open when the ump told him to get back on the mound.

Pete Rose Jr. is their manager, BTW ...
Indy league umpires are somewhat unpredictable. I never even heard which ump called it and you have to realize we don't have the benefit of 99 cameras and 25 replay angles on these video streams. The quality of the P by P is OK but it's not even close to top drawer. In any case, Wichita lost the game because they went a bunch of innings against a worn out reliever and didn't score a run.
It was still a call that I'd have stuck in my pocket if I was an ump.

Did Pete Sr. bet against his son's team?

 

[JohnU]

Did Pete Sr. bet against his son's team?

Winnipeg tends to fuck with the system a little. I'd bet on the 'Peg.

 

[rmilia1]

I didn't see where he did but I think the Wichita dugout was too evidently stunned to even argue. the pitcher had tossed his glove aside and he just stood there with his mouth open when the ump told him to get back on the mound.

Pete Rose Jr. is their manager, BTW ...
Indy league umpires are somewhat unpredictable. I never even heard which ump called it and you have to realize we don't have the benefit of 99 cameras and 25 replay angles on these video streams. The quality of the P by P is OK but it's not even close to top drawer. In any case, Wichita lost the game because they went a bunch of innings against a worn out reliever and didn't score a run.
It was still a call that I'd have stuck in my pocket if I was an ump.

Junior probably had a g ball on Winnipeg

 

[JohnU]

Junior probably had a g ball on Winnipeg

Probably.

Winnipeg decided today to postpone tonight's game because of the threat of rainstorms.
Of course their two top relief pitchers threw about 8 innings on Monday so they probably just needed the rest.

Earlier this year, they claimed they had some "sick" players and got a postponement before the first game of a road trip. The 'Peg does tend to take long bus trips so a day off is usually welcomed by the bus leagues. Nobody was ever able to learn what they were sick from even though they claimed 6 of their players had come down with something.

The deal is, getting into Canada, some of these Latin guys don't have their passports in order and they can't get past the border. Winnipeg doesn't have any issues with that. You are short on your roster? Tough shit.

That has nothing to do with the balk call, but it's interesting how they operate in the indy leagues.