First base umpire Brian Gorman botched a pair of calls Thursday night in Game 2 on the heels of numerous blown calls throughout the first two rounds of the postseason. All of this has caused the outcry for replay in baseball to pick up steam. But for me, the issue that has been far more glaring through two games than the need for replay is the need for a pitch clock.
Forget Replay In Baseball, Let’s Focus On Pace Of Play
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Of course, MLB already has a pitch clock rule, of sorts. It’s an internal clock, kept in the mind of the home plate umpire, who certainly has NOTHING ELSE to be thinking about. (There is a reason football refs don’t keep the play clock in their head.)
↵↵Regarding Rule 8.04, umpires have been asked to:
↵— Actively encourage the pitcher to take his position on the pitching rubber.
↵— Warn a pitcher for his first violation of the 12-second time limit.
↵— Issue the pitcher a “ball” for each subsequent violation of the 12-second time limit.
↵↵Maybe it’s happened — maybe an umpire has issued a ball for exceeding the 12-second rule — but I’ve never seen it. And if it has happened, it certainly hasn’t happened often enough, as evidenced by the painfully slow pace of Games 1 and 2. Both could be labeled “pitchers duels.” Both took 3 1/2 hours.
↵So why not excavate the 12-second clock from the home plate umpire’s brain and relocate it on the backstop behind the plate? And put another one, I don’t know, on the centerfield scoreboard, where the ump can see it.
↵Certainly I’m not the first one to come up with this brilliant plan, but if we all would focus our bitching away from replay and to the pitch clock issue we’d … well, we’d probably accomplish nothing. If the game didn’t have it in 1909, well bygolly, the game doesn’t need it in 2009!
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