Day 2:
First game was Butte verses Northern California. I was at 3rd base. Originally we were heading down to the other field to do the Northwood (Host team) vs. Hawaii game but our plate umpire is from the host district and having him on the plate for the game usually is not that kosher. So we switched. The game was good. Northern California beat Butte pretty handily but the Butte guys had a good attitude. I always like that.
My bad: There was a rotation that I completely missed 2nd to last play of the game. I was at third base and we had a pop fly to the fence that the ump on second chased out. I had a runner at 3rd I was watching the tag for but the fielder really wasn’t close so I should have been to second base to watch the throw in. I wasn’t until the throw was on the way and I started saying, oh man, that’s my call, that’s my call to myself as I frantically started towards 2nd. 4 man mechanics are killing me. The play wasn’t close so no harm but I sure felt stupid. Next play the ball is hit to the shortstop and the runner runner collides with the shortstop right after the throw. I call “That’s Interference” but the shortstop was able to get the runner out at first so nothing was made of the call. It was the right call though so I bounced back quickly.
Game 2 was Arizona verses Idaho. I still really like the attitude of the Idaho players. Arizona jumped all over Idaho in the first few innings and it was obvious that Arizona just had the bigger bats today but the Idaho players still had fun, still played hard, and never said a bad word about anyone except for the centerfielder who couldn’t jump 25 feet high to catch those homerun balls. I was at second base for this game and got pretty good reviews for it. I was not upset with my work out there but feel like I can definitely use more study on the proper rotations while at second. I also need to work on my timing as I had a safe call that if I would have gone the other way, I would have been in trouble as the ball ended up trickling past the second baseman on a pickoff that I didn’t see until it was 5 feet behind him. I need to make it a habit to use the same timing I need on out calls as I do on safe calls. No need to hurry.
The really bad: I had a pickoff from the catcher from Arizona that the shortstop and second baseman had been working on for a while. The second baseman goes to the bag to catch the ball on the runner from first. Meanwhile the shortstop comes in front of the bag and pretends to catch the ball to keep the runner on third from going. The second baseman catches the ball and applies the tag. So I’m in the middle of this, the shortstop comes behind me and I catch him out of the corner of my eye as I am following the ball. He slaps his glove and to me it sounds as if he caught the ball. I hear this and miss the catch at second and the applied tag. I turn to look at the SS and the second baseman says, “I have the ball” and shows it to me. I’m dumbfounded at this point and have nothing else to say but “Then he’s safe.” I sold it but I had no clue whether the ball beat him there or not. Between innings, Cliff told me that I got it right so that was some consolation but tracking the ball is muy importante.
Speaking of Cliff, I am really, really enjoying working with him. He is one of the most sound, consistent and professional umpires I have ever seen (Outside of Dave Burt (My UIC (Kissing up))). Just watching how he handles things is making me reconsider my mechanics and adjusting them to be more like him because if I get more like him, I’ll be a better umpire.
Tomorrow, I have first base at the 9:00 am game for Idaho and Oregon and then the 12:30 pm Arizona and Hawaii game. Both 12:30 games are powerhouse games – Arizona has been dominant so far and Hawaii totally dominated their game today while the other game is the traditional rivalry game of Southern Cal vs. Northern Cal. All four teams look really good and any of these four could win the whole thing and head to Livermore. My plate should be a real exciting, well-played game. Hope I live up to the hype :)
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