Baseball rules corner: umpires have to be careful in determining a player's intent.

INTENT IS AN AREA THAT UMPIRES, like courtroom judges, must take into consideration when issuing certain penalties. Is a pitcher purposely throwing at a batter? Did a runner intentionally get hit by a batted ball to kill a potential double play? Or consider what happened in the Yankees-Indians game at Jacobs Field last July 12.

With the score tied 1-1, Cleveland catcher Einar Diaz led off the bottom of the 10th inning and reached first on a little nibbler between the mound and first base. Yankees first baseman Nick Johnson fielded it and tossed the ball past pitcher Steve Karsay who was coveting the bag.

Diaz took a step toward second base. However, when he saw that Yankee catcher Jorge Posada had hacked up the throw and had the ball in his hand, he decided to return to first. But it really was too late. Posada beat Diaz to the bag and tagged him. The Bronx Bombers thought they had recorded an out.

But to the Yankees' dismay, the umpires allowed Diaz to remain at first base. From this corner the umps failed to carry out rule 7.08(j) which reads, "Any runner is out when he fails to return at once to first base after overrunning or over sliding that base. If he attempts to run to second, he is out when tagged." Manager Joe Torre's argument fell on deaf ears.

There is no doubt that Diaz's intent was to run to second. His attempt was clear, yet not one of the umps working the game supported Torre's appeal that Diaz had lost immunity from being tagged once he made his intended move to second.

Rule 7.08(j) is just one of several rules where intent becomes a factor in an umpire's decision.

Take the subject of checked-swings. You can forget the sandlot myth that a batter must "break his wrists" (whatever that means) to determine a swing. Umpires go by a simple guideline--Did the batter offer or make an attempt to swing at the pitch?