Balk Rules
1) You can’t just be up there and just doin’ a balk like that.

1a. A balk is when you

1b. Okay well listen. A balk is when you balk the

1c. Let me start over

— John Arndt (@JohnMA_24) August 13, 2022

1c-b. Once the pitcher is in the stretch, he can’t be over here and say to the runner, like, “I’m gonna get ya! I’m gonna tag you out! You better watch your butt!” and then just be like he didn’t even do that.

— John Arndt (@JohnMA_24) August 13, 2022

1c-b(2)-a. Okay, well, you can have the ball up here, like this, but then there’s the balk you gotta think about.

1c-b(2)-b. Fairuza Balk hasn’t been in any movies in forever. I hope she wasn’t typecast as that racist lady in American History X.

— John Arndt (@JohnMA_24) August 13, 2022

1c-b(3). Okay seriously though. A balk is when the pitcher makes a movement that, as determined by, when you do a move involving the baseball and field of

2) Do not do a balk please.

— John Arndt (@JohnMA_24) August 13, 2022

Boiling Denim said:

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Ags #1 said:

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Still not a balk!!!!!! F u mlb!!!!

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100% a balk

And just add it to the long list of bonehead screwups this team has had the last month that's decided games. This team is mentally somewhere else right now. The Bahamas maybe

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100% not a balk

Never should have come down to that. Bullpen is hot garbage right now.

Ag4life80 said:

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Never should have come down to that. Bullpen is hot garbage right now.

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From Reddit: it's not just the bullpen either. They've been trading off with starting pitching on who's gonna suck that night

Since June 8th

Starter ERA- 4.69 (14th)
Bullpen ERA- 4.44 (20th)
Total ERA- 4.59 (22nd)

here's a stat to make you pull your hair out...

in 198 at-bats...Julks has only grounded into 2 double plays

but both of them have come in the last week with the bases loaded in 1-run games (losses) or extra-innings

MANY pitchers do a little leg fidget once they come set, and when it's our guy I always hold my breath thinking that they will call it, but they hardly ever do. The way that the rule is often interpreted is that if a pitcher does the move "every single time" they don't call it. That's BS. It's either a balk, or it's not.

• If it's a balk, they should not allow it, ever.
• If it's not a balk they should never call it.

I also notice that many pitchers fail to come set at all...and they never call it.

Once again, too much inconsistency in the way that the rules are being applied by different umps and in different situations.

Top 8th ump goes wild calling strikes out of the zone
Bot 8th he suddenly tightens up the strike zone
Abreu sucks on top of that
Dusty decides to let him keep going after walking the bases loaded
Questionable balk call

It's not just the balk, or our bullpen. That was really just the end of an infuriating series of events.

W said:

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here's a stat to make you pull your hair out...

in 198 at-bats...Julks has only grounded into 2 double plays

but both of them have come in the last week with the bases loaded in 1-run games (losses) or extra-innings

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I can't decide how I feel about Julks. He's almost a good player. But not quite.

Bottom line is that with Maldy, Dubon, Julks & Meyers having the most ABs at C, 2b, LF & CF, France & Bielak being our 4 & 5 and our bullpen perpetually $h!itting it's pants, it's really a miracle that we are 5 games above .500.

Dusty has cost us a few games and I'd trade him back for AJ in a heartbeat, but AJ and his over-tinkering cost us a WS and all his tactical brilliance hasn't done squat for the Tigers. I think people vastly overestimate how much a manager can help you tactically. I'd rather have one that goes with the odds more and the gut less, but I think that 95% of the problem so far this season has been the quality of the guys in that lineup (and yes, I know that a part of that is Dusty's fault).

f1ghtintexasaggie said:

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Harry Dunne said:

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W said:

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here's a stat to make you pull your hair out...

in 198 at-bats...Julks has only grounded into 2 double plays

but both of them have come in the last week with the bases loaded in 1-run games (losses) or extra-innings

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I can't decide how I feel about Julks. He's almost a good player. But not quite.

Bottom line is that with Maldy, Dubon, Julks & Meyers having the most ABs at C, 2b, LF & CF, France & Bielak being our 4 & 5 and our bullpen perpetually $h!itting it's pants, it's really a miracle that we are 5 games above .500.

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That "miracle" is called the Oakland Athletics, at least for the time being.

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Our SOS was right about in the middle last time I checked. Oakland aside, we have beaten some good teams and lost to some bad ones. It's not just like we've feasted on trash and based on our run differential, our record should actually be even better by a couple of games.

Which again, is miraculous considering half of our most common starting lineup and starting rotation should not be major league starters (you'd have a good argument if you said some should not be in the majors at all).

This. Balk or not, when your offense puts up 7 runs it shouldn't come down to hoping the umpires make a right call. 7 runs should win 90% of games. Pitching has been a huge letdown.

Boiling Denim said:

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Ags #1 said:

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Still not a balk!!!!!! F u mlb!!!!

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100% a balk

And just add it to the long list of bonehead screwups this team has had the last month that's decided games. This team is mentally somewhere else right now. The Bahamas maybe

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Nice to see the 10 rangerette fans over here giving this a blue star

The balk may have been the last shot but the fatal blows were Abreu walking the bases loaded.

His last 5 games have been pure dog crap.

4.1 IP but 22 batters faces so 9 more than the min over 4.1 IP, 5 H, 4 BB for a whip of 2.08, 1 HR and 5 ER. It's not just walks. His SLG allowed is .588. So it's either a walk or a bad outcome hit.

I thought the umpire strike zone was all Dodger in the 8th. To me when you even start thinking this, it is all about them.
I am ready for the auto strike zone. I really believe the guy last night was bias.
Just my two cents…..

As an official, you have to have a feel for the game and weigh whether you want to decide the game or let the players decide.

Was it a balk? Maybe.

But you basically just called a hand check 40 feet from the basket with 3 seconds to go in a tie game. Letter of the law foul? Sure...but have some freaking awareness.

I find it odd that there's more *****ing about the balk call than the umpires strike zone in the 8th. That was the game changer. From three terrible strike calls in a row in the top half to squeezing our pitchers in the bottom half. If he doesn't shrink his strike zone it's irrelevant because stanek would've struck the guy out the pitch before.

That scorecard conveniently ignores the other two bad strike calls in T8 and all the calls in B8.

Sunday Night Baseball.

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— Houston Astros (@astros) June 25, 2023

No Diaz or Altuve… wtf

We are hemorrhaging games and Dusty trots this out.