"Pathetic and Embarrasing" - Joe West

"They're the two clubs that don't try to pick up the pace. They're two of the best teams in baseball. Why are they playing the slowest? It's pathetic and embarrassing. They take too long to play. The commissioner of baseball says he wants the pace picked up. We try. And [Tuesday night's game] still almost went four hours . . . This is embarrassing, a disgrace to baseball."

This is a quote from MLB Umpire Joe West. He is a reputable umpire and has been calling games since 1976. He has worked 4 World Series and 11 different post seasons. Clearly this is a man who understands baseball.

I don't quite understand where Joe West is coming from making these statements. I admit that Yankee-Red Sox games are marathons at best. However this is not because the pitchers are constantly stepping off the rubber or the batters are constantly calling time. No. The reason these games take so long is because these teams are very very good. Two factors primarily contribute to these games taking so long: hitters and broadcasting. Neither factor can really be changed and both are something Joe West is going to have to live with.

Yankee-Red Sox games are high profile games and huge draw to whichever network lands the games. Usually these games will end up on either ESPN or Fox who both have huge commercial breaks between innings. With at least 17 commercial breaks in a game this adds almost an hour to the game (3 minute commerials). Now factor in pitching changes and your looking at almost over an hour just on commercial breaks. Clearly this is not the fault of either team. In fact this is highly unavoidable. Throughout MLB last year the average game took 2 hours and 54 minutes to play start to finish. The average for Yankees-Red Sox was 3 hours and 38 minutes. With that in mind let's just round the average Yankee-Red Sox game up to 4 hours. Take away the hour of commercials and your at the league average. Now let's talk about the hitters. Both teams are loaded with patient hitters who will work the count and wait for "their pitch". Last year the Yankees alone saw 25, 049 pitches. The second closest team saw 24,980 pitches. It should come as no surprise that the second team on the list is the Boston Red Sox. That means that these two teams spent more time at the plate than any other teams in Major League Baseball thus leading to.... you guessed in longer games.

I said it in the beginning and to call these games "Pathetic and Embarrasing" is simply absurd. Are football games "Pathetic and embarrassing" because they take 3 hours and go to commercial after every kickoff. There are some broadcasts that will go to commercial after a touchdown and then go to a commercial after the ensuing kickoff. Is that "pathetic and embarrasing"? I stil don't understand where Joe West is coming from when he makes these comments. The style of play these two teams practice is not something to be changed nor is the broadcasting policies. Is it possible that Joe West is just getting older and doesn't want to call these games? I wouldn't rule that out, but it doesn't excuse him for making these comments. Now if MLB is putting pressure on the umpires to speed the game up then I can understand West's frustration with the games. However I believe that these two clubs will have continue to have marathon games because of the intensity and style of play both teams have.