quote:Originally posted by Matt13:
Interesting commentary...
From my perspective, in HS, if there is an official book kept separately from the home book, they are more on top of things than the managers themselves. The main times where I do have to report to an official scorer are levels above HS.
Many times, I don't even get reports of defensive switches (unless, as has been mentioned, it impacts the DH.)
As for the count, our association has it as one of the points of our evaluations--making sure that it is visible to the front and rear, at a minimum.
I wouldn’t doubt that what you say about an official book separate from the home book being on top of things is true the vast majority of the time it happens. Unfortunately, here, the only tome there’s an official book other than the home book, it’s a playoff game.
I know what you say about defensive switches is true as well, and its because while the game is going on, very few participants are thing about statistics. But in practice the next day or when the manager’s trying to determine who should be on the field, suddenly those stats become much more important. But then the thought is, the numbers I’m getting stink. And who gets blamed?
My only point here is to say if both the umpires and the managers did a better job of working together with the scorers, the numbers would get a lot better, and that would benefit everyone.
Ah the count. I believe what you say about the umpire’s assn. making it a point of interest. We have a huge assn. here, and they do the same thing. Sadly though, there’s a reason there are old sayings like: ”The best-laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley”, and “The road to perdition is paved with good intentions”.
And I don’t blame the umps, because really, as long as the players know what’s going on, the rest is inconsequential. But its just another one of those things that makes the game more enjoyable to watch, and makes the SK’s job a bit easier. Its pretty simple to get what a call was when there’s 11 cameras plus replay, but like I said, at the typical HS game, there’s only a couple guys or gals trying to get the count so they can record it, and lots of times they’re trying to do something else and will miss a call.
When that used to happen, it was pretty standard for the SK to just yell, “COUNT BLUE”, and the ump would immediately show the count. But I’ve noticed that in the last couple of years, umpires aren’t as willing to assist. I’m thinking it has more to do with people other than the SK going crazy asking on pitch after pitch.