What the Balk?

While watching the Giants/Padres game last night (seriously Giants we need to beat this team), I got to see one example of a pitching infraction known as a balk. Thankfully this particular example was displayed by Padres pitcher Clayton Richard and not our own Matt Cain. I am proud to say that to some extent I knew what the umpire was referring to when he slapped his leg and called balk!

My latest read is Watching Baseball Smarter: A professional fan's guide for beginners, semi-experts and deeply serious geeks by Zack Hample. I had to pick this one up when I saw the title, of I course I need to know how to watch baseball smarter I thought to myself; especially if I plan to teach anyone else something. The book has been a true wealth of knowledge, and I plan a full review entry as soon as I finish it. In the chapter on pitchers, the balk is defined as an illegal movement by the pitcher that deceives a runner. Basically, if the pitcher stops his delivery mid-motion and there are runners on base, a balk will be called and all runners are allowed to advance one base.

My mom and I were just talking about the balk because I mentioned to her that I had just read about all the ways the pitcher can be charged with the infraction. She mentioned that it is very hard to see one when it happens, and that is the truth. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any video of what I saw last night, but here is an example involving Pedro Martinez when he pitched for the Mets.

http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=2872078

A balk would not be called if there were no runners on base. Pay attention to the pitcher next time you are watching a game and see if this happens. They might even get away with it.

Even though we didn't win the game last night, it was fun to watch. I'm digging Andres Torres right now. Here is a link to the video of his amazing catch that took him into the crowd. Notice that when he recovers and shows that he has caught the ball, he looks cool about it. I think he wanted to jump up and down a little bit. Later in the game he made a great diving underhanded catch with the same cool look afterward. Watch that clip here. I like how he tosses the ball from his glove to his hand like what he has just done is no great task. Another reason I dig watching him is that he is small. I know weird right.

So there you have it, what the balk?