Comments on: Papelbon needs to speed it up

By: Jake SF

Jake SF — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:15:39 +0000

Has anyone put together a games-are-too-long argument that does not have anything to do with short attention spans and impatience? Long games can suck, sure, especially if you’re at the losing end of things, as well as too short if on the winning side. But does the length have anything over social comaraderie and beers, and Joe Morgan and his “and so forth and so ons”? Give me some peanuts and Cracker Jack and I’m fine. A lack of time constraints is what makes this game special. Right?

By: len

len — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 13:59:00 +0000

JD ,your boy obama is having about as good a summer a your roid sox…. i guess losers tend to share the same trends.

By: TR

TR — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:25:07 +0000

…and I suppose the Yankee’s averaging an MLB best 5.77 runs per game wouldn’t have anything to do with the length of their games…

By: JD

JD — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 21:14:56 +0000

I think MLB should take a look at the Yankees. Last time I looked, they have the longest average game time in both leagues. What about them stepping out of the batter’s box every 20 seconds. If you are going to have a time rule on the pitchers, make the batters stay in the batters box! …or place a team maximum on the # of time outs per inning – like ONE. PLEASE…what are they actually doing besides playing mind games with the pitcher. Bud Selig is as good a comissioner as Bush was a President!

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:35:08 +0000

Papelbon might be slowing the game but what about the constant leaving the box by players and fixing their batting gloves or the opposing manager changing pitchers 7 times in a game or the 3-5 minutes between innings for more and more ads.

By: MarkMay

MarkMay — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:08:54 +0000

Maybe Papelbon needs to make a visit with the Oregon football player who punched the Boise guy http://bit.ly/legarretteblount great punch! I'm a Sox fan, but maybe MLB should raise the fine to have Papelbon respect it?

By: Jack Marshall

Jack Marshall — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:34:04 +0000

1) The plate umpiring in the Sox-Rays series was just embarrassing.
2) Papelbon is far from the slowest pitcher even in the Red Sox bullpen.
3) Boy, what would the umpires have done to Jeff Gray?

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:55:31 +0000

It’s not the speed of pitching or between pitches he’s being fined for. There is an established time limit from when a manager calls for the pitcher to when he actually starts pitching, and Papelbon is exceeding it routinely. He can afford to be fined every game if he likes, given his salary.

By: Brian M

Brian M — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:45:28 +0000

Not entirely sure about the rest of his games, but even the announcers at that particular game were wondering what was up. Papelbon wasn’t pitching anywhere near as slow as Okajima in that game…so why for the discrepency. If there’s a rule or something regarding how long a pitcher can take with their windup and delivery, then fine, I’m all about enforcing the rules, but fair enforcement across the board…not just for whichever pitcher you feel like penalizing that day.
On top of that, the umps for the Rays/Sox games are retarded anyway. Both Rays and Red Sox players/pitchers are getting screwed by their calls. I vote we get rid of pitch calls via ump, and go with the Amiga Strike Zone, it’s 100% accurate, and not influenced by money.

By: PeterD1963

PeterD1963 — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:42:13 +0000

Its all about having the air time needed for such big egoes!!!!

By: Koz

Koz — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:14:26 +0000

Hey, if his success is based on his routine, then so be it. If MLB wants him to speed up and he doesn’t I think the Red Sox will kick in 50 or 60 K for his annual fines. Fining him 5000 for this chicken-poo is like fining me 10.00 a year for drive 65 in a 60. I don’t think it’s gonna change anything. That said, Tim is absolutely right – he faces between 4 and 6 batters at most and more often just 3, and not every night. Yeah, chasing Pap really makes sense….it’s really gonna speed up the game…by the time he picthes, those fans who MLB are trying to please have already left the game. (I know this may be a TV contract issue, and if that is the case, Pap will figure it out. But more than likely in the off season; now I think hell just pay the fines.)

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:52:44 +0000

The guy pitches 1 maybe 2 innings at most when the game is on the line..who cares how long he takes as long as he blows a save.

By: maurice

maurice — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:16:16 +0000

he’s Red Suck… MLB should fine his behind just for that

By: Chuck

Chuck — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:54:26 +0000

Doesn’t make sense that they keep picking on Papelbon. He isn’t nearly the slowest guy in the league and certainly not the slowest on the Red Sox. When Beckett gets into trouble, he can slow down to the point of making you want to scream. And how about Dice-K? Baseball needs to show some consistency with the this stuff. They still let batters take way too long. Do you really need to adjust your gloves when you’ve taken a ball and didn’t even swing the bat? These guys need to be reminded they’re playing baseball – not solving world hunger.