Home MLB'Weekly' Hit Ground Ball ‘Weekly’ Hit Ground Ball 2008 – Week Eight

‘Weekly’ Hit Ground Ball 2008 – Week Eight

by Matt Smith

Tick, Tock.  Tick, Tock …

Like the White Rabbit in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig is frantically rushing around, looking at his watch and muttering “Oh dear! Oh dear! The games are running too late”.

All thirty MLB teams were informed this week of plans to crack down on the many little factors that can slow the pace of a game. Batters won’t be able to amble to home plate when it’s their turn to stand in the batter’s box, pitchers will have to deliver their pitches more promptly, batters won’t be granted time once the pitcher has started his delivery, and the home plate umpire will be breaking up those all-too frequent powwows on the pitching mound.

I know what you’re thinking: shouldn’t they be doing all of this already?

Yes they should; the above are all things that can be found in the official rules as they stand. For some reason though, they are not enforced. The pace of games has apparently become a personal bugbear of Bud’s so action is being taken. For the time being at least.

Fans of all sports will be familiar with the routine. The official rules/laws are seemingly only there as a guide, with custom and tradition dictating which are obeyed and which get overlooked. Every now and then something or someone will highlight the fact that a rule isn’t being enforced and, amid an avalanche of publicity, a determined effort will be made to correct the situation. The officials, players and coaching staff will play along for a while, giving the authorities a chance to smugly herald the great changes they have initiated, before everyone gradually slips back into their old habits and the issue is forgotten again.

Take football as an example. Back in 2000, the authorities decided that goalkeepers were wasting too much time so a rule was introduced (to much fanfare) stating that goalies were only allowed to hold the ball for six seconds before kicking it up the field; any longer and the opposition received an indirect free kick. Oh how we laughed as the referee made a great show of counting down those six seconds, with the slightest indiscretion being met by a shrill toot on the whistle. Eight years on, I had to check the laws of the game to make sure that it was still in there (and it is). I cannot recall the last time I saw a referee blow-up for an infringement of this rule, while time and again goalies merrily hold on to the ball for eight to ten seconds.

Is time-wasting a real issue in baseball right now? News of MLB’s crackdown was announced on Wednesday and the longest game on that day (Red Sox versus the Royals) took just three hours and nineteen minutes to complete. Some games do last a good four hours or so, but they are the exception rather than the rule. One of the great joys of baseball is that the game is not played against a clock; therefore each contest can take on its own pace and rhythm. Looking back at Wednesday, the shortest game took two hours and six minutes, as Oakland’s Dana Eveland threw a ninety-five pitch complete game against the Rays. Should the players have strung it out for an extra hour just so the fans stayed in their seats longer? Of course not. Fans at the Coliseum didn’t head home feeling short changed; the game was over in a relative flash because Eveland pitched a gem. If a high-scoring, tactical game lasts four hours then so be it.

Something tells me that Bud isn’t a big fan of Test cricket.

I’m sure all baseball fans get a bit frustrated here and there at a batter who continually asks for (and is granted) time or a pitching coach who takes an age to get to the mound (the baseball equivalent of a player substituted in injury time who slowly walks off the pitch, stopping to shake hands with anyone he can find on the way), but that could be dealt with by having a stern word with the most persistent offenders. Fussing about whether a game lasted fifteen minutes longer than it needed to seems to be a case of needless meddling.

Some would say that’s what Bud does best.

Week eight wrap-up

Despite their eight-game winning streak coming to an end on Friday, the White Sox (26-22) retain a 2.5 game lead over the Twins in the AL Central. The Tigers are 5.5 games back, but, after scoring fifty-three runs in their last five games, there are signs that they are heating up. The Red Sox (31-21) lead the way in the East with the Rays keeping pace, while the Angels (30-21) have a 2.5 game lead over the A’s.

In the National League, the D-Backs (29-20) went 2 and 4 on the week and finally relinquished their position as the best team in the Majors. They still have a 3.5 game cushion over the Dodgers though, while the rest of the West continue to struggle (the Giants are third in the division despite being nine games below .500). The Cubs (29-20) and the Cards (30-21) share the top spot in the Central, with the Astros just one game back. In the East, the Marlins (27-20) have the Braves and the Phillies on their back. The Mets go two and five to slip below .500 and the tension is beginning to show in Queens, with Willie Randolph feeling the pressure more than most.

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