| Messing around with baseball minds... |
 America's favourite past time is alive and well here in the Cowichan Valley. Like most things that we make our own, we inherit a few obscure rules and terms that are constantly misunderstood. Mostly because they are confusing. Take "take" for instance. Coach tells you to take the next pitch. What do you do? Most of you would swing away. Wrong. The count was three and goose egg and the light was red! Your coach used the term "take" properly by telling you to leave the pitch. How about "K". Did you know that the proper scoring for a strikeout is K? This has just evolved over the years, with an arbitrary selection of maybe the biggest letter in the the word "strike" influenced with a little boxing jargon. The impact of a "K" heightens with the notion of a K.O. (knock out in boxing). Maybe that is why the umps can get pretty animated when they "punch out" the third strike on a batter. Useless tidbit for scorekeepers: If the batter goes down without swinging you write the K backwards. And speaking of third strikes, you do not have the right to run every third strike just because the catcher doesn't catch it cleanly. It is simple. If there is less than two out and first base is occupied, the batter is automatically out after three strikes. Hey, if there is two out then yeah, that batter can run like hell on a dropped third strike. But remember this causes a force play and the defensive team can simply tag a base. If there is no runner on first, then you can run too. This rule was written for the same reason that the infield fly rule was written. That is, so that a team can not intentionally let a ball drop so as to create a double or triple play opportunity. The infield fly rule is in effect when there is less than two out and there is a runner on first and second, or the bases are loaded. The umpire is supposed to acknowledge the situation when the ball is in the air and make the call then. That leaves for a ton of discretion by the ump. He has to decide that the ball could be played with ordinary effort by an infielder and that the ball is going to land in fair territory. If the ball travels a little onto the outfield grass, no matter. If the umpire felt that the shortstop could track the ball and catch it in the outfield area, the rule still applies even if his center fielder calls him off. If it is tracked into foul territory and caught the batter is out anyway. If it is not touched and the ball lands foul, believe it or not the batter gets a new life and it is a foul ball. I know, clear as mud. Well if you weren't confused before - you are now. You're welcome. 
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