Take your time
By Dan Rodgers
Many people, especially non-baseball fans, think that the game is way too long and there should be time constraints. The Yankees/Red Sox opening weekend series took nearly 12 hours to complete. Umpire Joe West felt the need to openly complain about the series, calling the two teams "pathetic and embarrassing" for needing so long to play the game.
Personally, I feel like this is ridiculous. West should be fined and/or suspended just like a player. Not to mention, the two teams he insulted are arguably the two best teams in the Major Leagues who will die to win. He has no right to call these teams out when his job is to sit back and call balls and strikes. They take their time and are careful because it is a part of strategy. I have great respect for teams who find every aspect of the game as part of their strategy. Every pitch, mound visit, time out, and substitution matters.
Somebody with authority needs to tell these umps to shut up. This is baseball, sit back and enjoy the beautiful weather...and the game of course.
Rodgers That
2 comments:
While I agree that West should have kept his comments to himself, the umps under a lot of pressure from MLB to speed up the pace of game play.
Personally, I think that's a ridiculous and unfair burden to place on the umpires. They can't control how many pitching changes a manager makes or how much time gets wasted on commercials between innings (here's a hint: it's a lot more than the amount of time killed by batters strolling around the plate between pitches).
The Yankees and Red Sox both take a lot of pitches and stack their lineups with high OBP guys. Everyone in major league baseball uses too damn many pitchers. It's fine that MLB says it wants the games to go faster, but I don't see any owners accepting any less ad revenue.
Couldn't have said it any better. However, I believe it also comes down to strategy, and certain teams will do anything to win and I definitely stand by that.
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