Manager Buck Showalter, during a mound visit, started talking to umpire Dale Scott and said, “Dale, I don’t know what to do here. I could bring a right hander and that would make sense. This guy really pitches well to the next batter but I’m not sure. I’m really in a predicament here. What do you think?” Umpire Dale immediately knew what was going on there. Buck Showalter was stalling and doing whatever he can to extend the time for his bull pen pitcher to get extra warm up time in. Pitchers, whether starters or relievers, need to warm up their body to get ready to pitch. The old adage when thinking about warming up is pitchers should warm up the body to pitch, not pitch to warm up. That’s why Buck wanted more time for his pitcher in the bullpen. That’s why Showalter feigned the conversation with Umpire Scott.
Umpire Scott had a classic, rote for umpires, response to Showalter. Scott replied, “Buck, let’s be clear about one thing. The reason I am an umpire is because I couldn’t play the game. I was terrible at throwing, catching, and batting. My opinion here would surely be catastrophic, so Buck, you are going to have to do this on your own.”