The Baseball Book Club discussion

I wrote this short article on my blog after reading a story about this subject in an About.com/Sports newsletter.

There is an interesting bit of discussion going on between me and a pal of mine after the article. I'd be curious to know what folks here think of this topic.

~Eric

http://noctslackv2.wordpress.com/2014...

Please note: This is not a revenue generating blog. It's just one of my personal blogs. I'm not posting this here to generate traffic. I just wanted you all to know that. ~E.

I don`t remember the exact play off the top of my head, but wasn`t there a wild pitch that scored a run during an intentional walk during the recent playoffs? For me personally, in todays dollar and no sense world, the extra 20 minutes or so doesn`t faze my baseball experience at all. If they want to try these modifications again like they tried 20 some odd years ago, let the slow moving Selig trainees focus on keeping the Nomar Garciaparra`s out of the game. If they may, have your umpires control 2 things, the batter and the pitcher. But using the word control and the MLB in the same sentence could confuse some. That`s my opinion. There`s more, but that`s my initial salvo.
Mike Linn

Mike Hargrove the human rain delay. We need more pitchers like Jim Kaat. Once he got he ball back from the catcher he was ready to throw it again.

It`s like littering or jaywalking, either take it off the books as a crime, or enforce it. Leave it to MLB to screw this one up like when they started calling balks en masse.
Mike Linn

Mike - You're conflating two plays during the Gnats' denouement in the deciding game against the Giants. In the seventh, with the bases loaded, Aaron Barrett threw a wild pitch that scored the second baseman Panik. The Gnats decided to walk Sandoval as a result. Barret threw a pitch so wild that it sailed over the cather's head and hit the stone facade behind home plate. The catcher retrieved the rebound and threw to Barrett covering home in time to tag out Buster Posey.

Yeah the games are too long. Waaaaaay too long.

Martin wrote: "Mike - You're conflating two plays during the Gnats' denouement in the deciding game against the Giants. In the seventh, with the bases loaded, Aaron Barrett threw a wild pitch that scored the seco..."

My main point here, is to leave the intentional walk alone, anything can and will happen, maybe not very often, but it can...
Mike Linn

Shades of Bill Veeck... 65 years ago
Mike Linn

Yeh I'm sure the manager of the team would just love it if the crowd is being polled on the moves he makes.

Yeh I'm sure the manager of the team would just love it if the crowd is being polled on the moves he makes.

Here's a novel idea. Maybe everyone should turn off their electronic devices and actually watch the whole game, and maybe even talk to other people around them about the game. Whenever I go I always end up in conversations with strangers about the game and baseball in general.

Huge difference Mike, let them boo all they want because something didn't work, but I'd never try to intentionally get my fan base to second guess my manager.

Huge difference Mike, let them boo all they want because something didn't work, but I'd never try to intentionally get my fan base to second guess my manager.

I think they could probably make up a lot of time if they stopped the posturing by the batter and the pitcher. I can't remember what game it was but Iwakuma was pitching for the Mariners and the other team had a quick pitcher too and it was only 2-1/2 hours.

Some of these pitcher take SOOOOOO long between pitches. I don't blame managers and their histrionics. They don't happen that often as a percentage of the actual time. Most of them time IMHO is all that business at the plate. Adjusting batting gloves, stepping in and out of the box. The pitcher just takes forever. If they found some way to force these guys to have some kind of time limit...

But, no one wants to do that. Who wants to add a real clock to baseball? If you want to make games shorter, there are ways without that.

I thought that all the stepping out of the box and adjusting gloves was something hitters do in order to mess with the rhythm of the pitcher, part of the strategy of a game. If not, and they actually need to be readjusted, wouldn't forbidding it give an unfair advantage to the other team?

Yeah, but you could take care of that by forcing pitchers to pitch in a certain amount of time. Some of them are horrible.

It's not that I think we should ban all this stuff. I just think that's where all the delay comes from. Not from arguments by managers and other things.

Look at some games. Some pitchers, like Iwakuma, just work faster. Some pitchers are incredibly slow. Besides, you know how long (about) a games going to last. Does anyone really complain?

Excellent! Thanks so much for opining.

By the way, if the Mikes and Michaels around here started using the same avatar, we'd really be screwed, huh? ;)

I've always thought too many people named their kids Michael. I have no trouble. There are very few Kirstens around.

For many decades when I was a lad, Michael & Jennifer, were the 2 most popular names
Mike Linn
And this is why, from my first post, I use my last name

Well, Josh Beckett retired. That may obviate the need for some of the suggestions to enable games to end on the same calendar day on which they began.

LOL!

Now now. He did pitch a no hitter last season...before he went all to hell.