Officially, Jorge Posada walked twice in the 2009 World Series. But to anyone watching, the frequent strolls to the mound by the Yankees catcher to calm his pitchers, slow opposition momentum and silence a raucous Citizens Bank Park crowd were enough to move the numbers on a pedometer.
In the pivotal Game 4, for example, Posada visited starting pitcher CC Sabathia eight times.
In one inning.
The Yankees won, 7-4, to take a 3-1 series lead.
Posada's liberal use -- Phillies fans would argue misuse -- of baseball's lax rules was so pronounced that Commissioner Bud Selig pledged to form a committee to examine it and other pace-of-play matters during the offseason. Selig assembled a 14-member committee to do just that, conducted several interviews lamenting the same things the average fan lamented and then permanently changed ... nothing.
The average time of game in the American League this season hovers around 3 hours and 4 minutes. The average for National League games is just 3 minutes quicker.
Gillick recently joined a blue-ribbon panel of baseball lifers assembled by former Houston Astros president Tal Smith on behalf of the Atlantic League to examine ways to pick up the pace.
"Once you get some things in place and see which ones work, then you go on," Gillick said. "I don't think the public wants to be sitting there for three hours. I think somewhere realistically, 2:40, 2:45. That would make us a more appealing game, I think."
What Gillick would like to see in place, to start, is simply better adherence to some existing rules. Rule 6.02 in the MLB rulebook, which also is used by the Atlantic League, is pretty specific about when hitters are allowed to leave the batter's box between pitches.
They cannot leave the box, the rule says, if they did not swing at the pitch just thrown.
Rule 8.04 mandates that the time between pitches can be no more than 12 seconds.
Just enforcing those two existing rules will eliminate a lot of needless down time. Not to mention, it would curtail some of the more notorious rabbit's foot rituals of hitters and pitchers.
"There's a lot of time taken with hitters doing that stuff," Gillick said. "They can get a sign from the third-base coach or they can get a sign from the manager without stepping out of the box."
But the No. 1 target, said Gillick, are those strolls made by the catcher, and the pitching coach, and the manager.
"One of the suggestions is to limit the number and also the time," Gillick said. "We're thinking about measures that are sort of like the NBA, where you have maybe one 20-second and one 40-second timeout. We'd have a time limit on how long they can go on the mound.
"For example if the pitching coach went out there we'd limit the discussion to 45 seconds. So he'd have to jog out instead of amble out, speak his piece and get back in 45 seconds. If the catcher comes out we would see that also as a trip to the mound the same as if he was the pitching coach ... And if the shortstop or somebody else goes to the mound that's got to be counted as a trip also.
"The umpires have to call more strikes," he said. "There used to be a lot of umpires who would say, 'Hey, get in there, I'm calling anything close, be up there swinging.'
"I don't know if that's done anymore, but I think they should be encouraged to call more strikes. If they do hitters will swing at more pitches and the game will move quicker."
Sports on 07/14/2014