Newly minted second in command to John McHale, the interim executive VP of major-league operations, Frank Robinson, wants to speed up baseball games. He wants to get the 5 or 6 teams who are currently averaging games over 3 hours to cut it back. He wants to get the umpires involved. People in hell want ice water too.
The Red Sox and Yankees are the greatest offenders of this “pace of the game” rule. They consistently run games longer than 3 hours. Even low scoring games are over 3 hours. Guess what? The fans are still watching. Girardi said earlier this year when umpire Joe West had some choice words for the Red Sox/Yankees game that seemed to last all night, that the Yankees would not make hitters change the way they approach hitting. Girardi said the Yankees were trying to win games and were not worried about speeding the game up.
Red Sox manager Francona pointed out the same thing I did when asked about pace of the game issues – people are still watching. I understand that there are some people who want the game played in a timely move it along fashion. TV networks being one as they have other things scheduled after games. Some fans are not thrilled with over 3 hour games, but there are plenty of them who sit and watch every single minute. The players and managers though are not I repeat NOT going to change their strategy just to speed up the game. A pitcher is not going to change his approach to the plate just to speed up the game. It’s not going to happen.
Robinson said that offending teams would receive a warning and then would move to the fine stage. Is he serious?! The Yankees are going to care if they are fined for ANYTHING? Um no. This was addressed 10 years ago. Cracking down on umpires was addressed in 2005. Here we are in 2010 and here it is again. The last time baseball had any real hustle was when Pete Rose was at the plate. No amount of fines are going to make teams get the lead out – bank on it.
© photo credit: palindrome6996
