Im guessing the Op was on the "wrong side" of this call. He is seeing it as influencing a close game where the opposing team would see not calling the balk as bad umping, show favoritism to the other team, etc.
I had no dog in the fight Joe. I am a HS umpire and my buddy was telling me about his game from the previous day where he balked a pitcher with a runner on third,. I have always struggled with calling balks with runners on third unless the balk was obvious, It was great to get some imput from fellow umpires on this issue.
My apologies. I will say Im not an ump, unless you consider the LL games I did when my kid was younger and the ump was a no show.
I understand the whole you don't want to influence a close game theory but imo, if its an infraction its an infraction.
BTW, I maybe a little sensitive to this whole not pausing topic this week. My kids HS team played a game in which the pitcher never paused. Went on the entire game. He was quick pitching without pausing. Never gave our batters a chance to setup in the box and never gave our runners a chance to get off the bases. Ump didn't do anything about it. Only 1 ump on the field and he was one of those guys who sat back in the box and never moved his butt out of it. For some reason this game really irritated me. We won without an issue but I was a little frustrated after the game. Funny thing is after two kids and being around youth baseball for 12 years things don't usually get to me. I really hate the 1 umpire thing. You really need 2 on the big field.