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The helpers start early.

S Scorekeeper100+ posts
Had our 1st game yesterday, and it sure didn’t take long for the people to come out of hibernation about scoring.

It started in our 3rd. Our LO batter got a huge break when their C dropped a simple pop up for the 1st E of the inning. Then, with his extended life, the batter hit a routine grounder to 2nd. The 2B played a little s****r with it after he muffed fielding it, but still had a chance to get him at 1st, until he threw the ball to the C backing up the 1B. Guy behind me says I should have given the kid a hit because he was hustling! I didn’t even bother to laugh.

Next pitch the kid gets picked off so bad he just turned and headed for 2nd. When he got tagged out, I marked a PO and a CS and the same guy says I can’t do that because it has to be one or the other. I waste 5 minutes trying to explain that on is a base running mark and the other is a pitching mark, but nevertheless, he still thinks I messed something up.

Next player hits a good hard ball right to the SS. He puts his glove down, but not quite far enough, so the ball hits him in the foot and bounces toward 2nd base. I mark an E-6, and the same guy says the ball was too hot to handle and should have been a hit. I just shook my head.

Then a couple innings later, our leadoff guy hits a humpback liner to left. The LF moves over, but doesn’t stop the ball and it bounces past him. Of course when the runner sees that, he easily jogs into 2nd. I mark a single with the runner going to 2nd on an E-7 and my friend says it was a double all the way. So I ask him if it was a double all the way, why was the B/R stopped just after the turn? His answer was to see how hard he had to run to get to 2nd. I just shook my head again.

Later that inning, we had a runner on 2nd, 1 out and we were ahead by a run. The runner took off for 3rd as the 3B charged in for the fake bunt, but the C threw the ball to 3rd even though there was no fielder there, and it went all the way to the LF. I mark the SB and an E-2 allowing the run to score, and my friend tells me it was 2 stolen bases because nobody touched the ball. I tried to tell him nobody touched the ball because there was no one there and he shouldn’t have thrown it, but the guy said he’d look it up when he got home and would tell me the rule number. I thanked him.

I guess it wouldn’t feel right if no one disagreed with me about scoring.
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S Scorekeeper100+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Rob Kremer:
Third base charges the bunt with a man on second? Isn't that an E-C? (Coach)


I suppose it could be, but I’ve never really been big believer in team errors, although I do mark them if I have no choice.

In this particular case, there were so many things that went right and wrong, I suppose there are a lot of different outcomes that I wouldn’t gripe about.

As it was, I was sitting behind the BS in a dead line with the 3B foul line if it was extended. The batter was a RHB and the P was a LH thumber. I saw the runner go as soon as the P made his 1st move, so I don’t think there was any doubt at all he was gonna steal 3rd.

But then to make things worse, the P threw something off speed and low. The batter had shown bunt and turned his body which is when the 3B made his move in, and by the time the ball got to the plate, I couldn’t see the runner or the 3B from where I was, so I doubt he could see them either.

He got the ball and stood up cocking his arm, and it sure looked like it was moving forward before he had a clear view of what was happening. In fact, judging by how far high and toward 2nd the ball sailed, I’d have to say he was trying to just hold the ball, but it was just too late. I’m thinking that if the batter was a LHB, the C would have seen everything unfolding and just held the ball, or maybe jut throw it to the 3B if he had to.

Its just that everything worked the way it was supposed to for us, and nothing went right for them. Since the throw shouldn’t have been made on top of everything else, I just popped the C. And now that I think of it, chances are the C knew whatever play was on, if there was one. Wink
R RPD100+ posts
Scorekeep ... I can tell from your previous posts that you know your stuff inside & out. The team is lucky to have you.

But it sounds like the problem is coming from all the discussions you're allowing yourself to get drawn into. Just a thought, but you may want to consider marking the book, and then just smiling & nodding in affirmation to anyone who has "advice" for you.

There are times to conduct scorekeeping seminars, but given some of the parents that are surrouding you, it sounds like the time to educate them would be sometime other than when the game is in progress.

Like I said -- just a thought.

Please keep up the informative posts. They're very enlightening.
S Scorekeeper100+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by RPD:
But it sounds like the problem is coming from all the discussions you're allowing yourself to get drawn into. Just a thought, but you may want to consider marking the book, and then just smiling & nodding in affirmation to anyone who has "advice" for you.
That’s a lot easier said than done.Wink

You have to remember that I’m stuck in my surroundings because I’m sitting where I feel is the best place to do my job. So I can’t move, and I really can’t ask anyone to shut up or even tone it down because they have just as much right to be there as me.

Smiling and nodding if there’s only one guy is one thing, but normally there’s at least a couple handfuls of folks, and that gets really difficult to ignore. Besides, I think I’ve helped more than a few folks gain a new found appreciation for the art of keeping score, as well as learning the rules, so I don’t really mind.

Its just that sometimes in their passion for the team or their son, people lose all sense of anyone else having something to do other than to service them, and that’s when things get tough.

There are times to conduct scorekeeping seminars, but given some of the parents that are surrouding you, it sounds like the time to educate them would be sometime other than when the game is in progress.
Like I said, most of the time I really don’t mind answering questions or even just chitchatting, but believe it or not, its much easier to do that during an AB than it is between innings, or between batters.

When an AB or a play is over, that’s when I need the most concentration to do my job, and between innings is when I’m doing all kinds of totals, including pitch counts, ER’s, RHELOBs, etc.. But that’s when most people want to BS! They don’t realize that because they have nothing to do, that doesn’t meant everyone else is in the same boat.

Please keep up the informative posts. They're very enlightening.
I don’t know how enlightening they are, but I do try to let folks know about a part of the game they may not be much aware of. Wink
S Scorekeeper100+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Texan:
An inaccurate sk will always have half the folks upset with him.

An accurate sk will always have all the folks upset with him. Big Grin


People who don’t think about it very much, don’t know how true that is!

Its very much like being an umpire. The best you can hope for is that when the game’s over, no one follows you out to the parking lot to kick your butt!

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