Some things in baseball still continue to baffle a Fan, even after decades of watching and reading about the sport. Some are wrapped up in the rule book and others seem to make logical sense but don't. Here are some of them.
Why isn't there a rule about how many pitching changes you can make in an inning? Some of the Left/Right/Left parades are terrible for the game and add tens of minutes to the game's length. Why not limit a team to two pitching changes an inning and keep it at that. Two are still too many, but at least it's a start. Just in case you have the second pitching change leading to a ten run rally, the umpires could be given an out clause to not punish a team to protect the poor pitcher who just seems to have one of those bad days.
Why are pitchers allowed to make those fake moves to second or that fake throw to third and then whirl around to see if the guy at first is asleep? Don't balk rules state that you cannot try to deceive the runner? Aren't those fake moves...umm...attempted deceptions. Plus, they are time wasting and downright boring.
Why do pitchers continue to throw fifteen times to first? All of us have experienced watching a game when suddenly, the pitcher gets obsessed and it starts to feel like Groundhog Day. It's boring to watch. The fans start booing, even when the pitcher is from the home team. Is there any statistical evidence that after five throws over there, the runner is less successful stealing? Doubtful. Cut it out already or create a rule against it.
Speaking of Groundhog Day, another instance of such an incident is when the pitcher is peering in for the sign, shakes a few off and then the batter steps out and asks for time. Then the catcher trots out to the pitcher, they talk, and the catcher still has to give a sign. Why? First of all, don't let the batter step out. That's ridiculous. Secondly, when a catcher goes to the mound, agree on a pitch and let's get to it. Why go back to giving a sign?
Why don't baseball teams have a cleanup guy that sweeps the dugout after every inning? Do fans really want to see 28 crumpled up paper cups and 42 pounds of spit out seed shells on the ground? Yuck. Clean it up, for crying out loud.
Why don't more teams take advantage of lazy outfielders who lolly pop throws to the infield after singles? When the Fan was playing as a kid (ancient history), as soon as the outfielder let one of those lazy lobs go, the Fan was on the way to second and never failed to get there. Punish the lazy guys and they won't be so lazy.
Why don't major league batters move closer in the batting box against slower pitchers and knuckleballers? I can see the back of the batting box being a good idea against a hard fastball, but not against a junkballer. Move up! Hit the ball before the late break.
Why aren't strikes called when a batter gets hit but his hands are actually over the plate? If a guy dives into the plate (Like Jeter does) and gets hit, first see if it's a strike or not before awarding the player first base.
It's tradition, but why should a foul bunt after two strikes be a strikeout? It doesn't make sense. It never made sense. It's been a rule forever, but why? A batter can foul back 14 pitches in a row, but he can't fail to bunt the ball fair more than three times?
No comments:
Post a Comment