LOS ANGELES >> Randy Marsh is the director of major league umpires. When he heard Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon and Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker recently imply that umpires were missing balk calls against Dodgers pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Julio Urias, he didn’t take it personally.
“It’s a bit of gamesmanship,” Marsh said.
Part of that understanding, perhaps, is born from Major League Baseball’s rulebook, rule 6.02(a); the section covering balks. “Umpires should bear in mind that the purpose of the balk rule is to prevent the pitcher from deliberately deceiving the base runner. If there is doubt in the umpire’s mind, the ‘intent’ of the pitcher should govern.