Is Blackley's pickoff move too deceptive?

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OAKLAND -- Travis Blackley leads the American League with six pickoffs. His move is so deceptive that it even fooled the umpires on Wednesday. In the sixth inning the Australian-born pitcher had Elvis Andrus dead to rights on a pickoff move to first that was called a balk by first base umpire Paul Nauert. The call advanced Andrus to second base and created a snowball effect. Andrus ended up coming around to score the Rangers' second run and Blackley ended up being pulled from the game. "The balk call ends up being a big factor there," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "He's got a great move, so that ends up being a tough one."Blackley's pickoff move is so good that he picked off two Rangers baserunners the last time he faced them on July 1. In fact, it might be too good, because it was called a balk on this occasion."I know it wasn't a balk. I watched it on video," Blackley said after the game. "You've got to pickoff like that. The whole idea is to make it look like you're going home. I picked them both off I guess." According to rule 8.05 of MLB's official rule book, a balk is when: "the pitcher, while touching his plate, makes any motion naturally associated with his pitch and fails to make such delivery." The rule book adds that it is also a balk if: "The pitcher, while touching his plate, fails to step directly toward a base before throwing to that base."So did Blackley really balk? It didn't look like it. In the end it doesn't matter. He pitched well enough to keep the A's in the game, and he did it against the top scoring team in baseball. "Everytime he has pitched for us he has given us a chance to win and that is all you can ask," Melvin said. Blackley is 2-0 with a 1.98 ERA in his last six games. According to the A's post game notes he hasn't allowed a home run in his last 45.2 innings and 179 batters faced. Not bad for a guy that was released by the Giants this season.