Most take wait-and-see approach on new proposals
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Associated Press
Bob Watson insists baseball really means it this time when it vows to speed up games.
Since 1995, commissioner Bud Selig has repeatedly vowed crackdowns. The average time of a nine-inning game, meanwhile, ballooned with the increase in offense, going from 2 hours, 47 minutes in 1998 to 2:53 the following year to a record 2:58 in 2000.
Last season, with a larger strike zone and a decrease in scoring, the average dropped back to 2:54.
"Things have kind of slipped through the cracks," said Watson, who last month replaced Frank Robinson as baseball's vice president of on-field operations. "What we want to do is basically cut down the dead time."
Watson has spoken to 20 of the 30 teams during spring training and says only two have complained about the speedup.
"The same clubs that objected last year are objecting this year," he said. "They say, `The game is OK the way it is and if people want to leave in the sixth inning because they have to go to work or the kids have to go to school, that's OK, let them."'
Many of the rules, given to teams in a memorandum on Feb. 13, 1998, are being re-emphasized:
Pitchers must throw the ball within 12 seconds of the hitter getting into the batter's box when no one is on base.
Batters must bring two spare bats with them to the on-deck circle.
Games are to start on time.
Breaks between half innings kept to their 2:05 limit for most games and 2:25 for games on national television.
A 2:30 limit for pitching changes.
A 10-second limit on music after a batter is introduced.
"We'll do whatever it takes to speed up the game," Texas first baseman Rafael Palmeiro said. "If it's getting in the box sooner and getting the pitcher to throw the ball sooner, that's fine. I'm not going to argue with that. Some guys are going to have to make adjustments and other guys will take it in stride. That's what I'll do."
When the changes were first announced four years ago, Selig had hoped they would cut an average of 15 minutes per game. They were issued after the 1997 World Series, when Game 3 dragged on for 4:12.
"The 'Unfinished Symphony' had a better chance of finishing before that game last night," Selig said the following day.
Watson said umpires have agreed to push enforcement of the rules. Many in baseball have taken a wait-and-see attitude.
"I have seen some memos but I haven't seen much put into practice yet," New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine said. "I'm one of those guys who does fan mail every day and people write to me and complain about everything from the color of our uniforms to what the hot dogs taste like in the stands. But no one has ever written me a letter saying the game was too long."
Robinson wants to cut the average time of a nine-inning game from 2:56 to 2:50 in the AL and from 2:53 to 2:40 in the NL.
But until they're forced to change, Dante Bichette will still go through his lengthy prepitch routine of moving his bat through all part of the strike zone, and Chuck Knoblauch will open and close the straps on his batting gloves.
"You can do all that stuff, but stay close to the batter's box," Watson said. "We talked to the hitters all spring about getting in the batter's box in a timely fashion and not getting into these strolls down the baseline."
And what will umpires do if batters refuse to comply?
"If he says no, he can order the pitcher to throw the ball," Watson said, "and it probably will be called a strike."
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