Jonathan Papelbon was fined $5,000 last night for taking too long to throw his first pitch. This is the second time this has happened to the Red Sox closer this year. MLB has set a rule that a pitcher coming out of the pen has 2 minutes and twenty seconds from the final out made the previous half inning to make his first pitch. They also implemented a rule that a pitcher has twelve seconds from the time a hitter steps into the box to make a pitch. Why is there a time limit on these games? I am pretty sure that everyone has lights at their stadium. This is Major League baseball, not the Perky league.
This is all triggered due to the fact that all of you front runners out there that follow teams because they won the World Series the year before cannot even sit through a baseball game without being bored! MLB has decided to try to speed up the game to keep the fans "interested" in the game. Give me a break. If you cannot stay interested then don't watch baseball, don't follow it, and more importantly do not act like you know a certain team, or the game itself. Essentially what the great commissioner of baseball is trying to say is that he would rather a player get hurt cause he is not loose enough, then lose interest from some front running Red Sox fan that can't sit through a baseball game because its not fast enough for them. All Selig cares about is money, and not what is best for the game. Here's an idea. Instead of fining players for taking too long to throw a pitch, get to the bottom of the mess that you created by allowing steroids into baseball. By no means am I Red Sox fan, but I have to stick up for Papelbon in this situation. Bud Selig is an asshole that does nothing for the integrity of the game. I am not sure if this rant is stemming from the fact that I am about to miss out on the playoffs in fantasy baseball this year after losing 7 straight, or how bad some of the fans of baseball annoy me, or both.
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Why is there a time limit? Basball games are way to long to begin with. They should also put a time limit for batters to get their ass in the box. Get in there and hit the ball! Adjust your batting gloves, sleeves, body armor and all the other B.S. in the on-deck circle. Boo Hoo about players not getting enough time to warm up. These players these days save for a few are soft. In Football if a QB goes down they don't give him a few "warm up" snaps. He goes in and plays.
ReplyDeleteI agree about pitchers being soft but I would not use QB's in my argument. Red Jerseys in practice so they don't get hit? Sliding so they can avoid hits? New penalties added yearly to keep them upright?
ReplyDeletePitchers should be "warmed up" by the time they get to the mound. All they should need is a couple of pitches. Papelpon does it on purpose. What is $5000 to him?
Its not so much the fine itself, it is the principle behind it. Pitchers should be warmed up before they get into the game, but at the same time it may take a little while to get loose on the mound. Warming up in the pen is different than the actual mound.
ReplyDeleteIf they are trying to speed the game, then why was instant replay installed in baseball? That takes forever when they review home runs. I mean how much more are you going to speed the games up by a pitcher warming up? 2 minutes? Come on that rule is absurd