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Baseball looks to speed things up

Kyle Hendricks will start Tuesday night's game for the Cubs against the Cardinals. That dovetails nicely into one of the big baseball topics of Monday: pace of game.

As you probably read or heard, Major League Baseball is convening a committee to address ways of speeding up games.

That's a good thing. If you watched any of the Cubs' four games this past weekend against the Dodgers, you know there was one long night and three long days at the old ballyard. The times of games in that series were 3 hours, 53 minutes, 3:31, 3:44 and 3:45. None of those games was an extra-inning game.

Before I go further, I'll acknowledge that media members always have to be careful when complaining about the ever-increasing length of ballgames.

According to the MLB Network and other sources, the length of nine-inning games has gone from 2 hours, 33 minutes in 1980 to 3:02 this year.

If games are entertaining, have good action and drama, I've got no problem with a three-hour-plus game. It's when they degenerate into exercises of tedium - as happened this past weekend - that baseball is running into problems.

With attention spans growing shorter by the millisecond, what kids or young adults are going to stick with a baseball telecast? Heck, many of us oldsters are nodding off when games take two hours to reach the fourth or fifth inning.

On one hand, it's good that MLB is finally saying - we'll see if anything actually gets done - something about the plodding pace of games. On the other, there are rules in place already that should ensure that nine-inning games get done in under three hours.

Rule 8.04 states: "When the bases are unoccupied, the pitcher shall deliver the ball to the batter within 12 seconds after he receives the ball."

On placards posted in more than one place in ballparks, it states: "Umpires will not grant time for batters to step out of the box if to do so would unnecessarily delay the game. When given permission to leave the batter's box under Rule 6.02, batters may not step more than 3 feet from the batter's box."

Enforce those two simple ideas, and quicker than you can say "Mark Buehrle," games speed up. MLB also can tweak replay procedures and limit conferences on the mound.

Now to Kyle Hendricks.

The Cubs rookie is 7-2 with a 2.28 ERA. Eleven of his 12 starts have been nine-inning games. Three of those games have lasted more than three hours. The times of game for the others are: 2:35, 2:41, 2:29, 2:22, 2:53, 2:52, 2:53 and 2:33.

"I think a pace is individualized for every pitcher," he said. "My pitching style, the way I've always been, is get the ball, know what you're going to throw and throw it. But for other guys, that might not work. Take your time, walk around the mound, do whatever you have to do. That's just baseball.

"But for me personally, a good fast pace has helped."

After games Hendricks pitches, his teammates will remark about how alert they remained in the field because of his pace.

"They do, for sure," he said. "It's part of what I want to do for them, also. I want them to be in the game. I don't want them standing out there all day waiting for me to throw. I want them on their toes so they can make more plays for me. There are a lot of balls put in play when I'm on the mound, so I need them behind me."

Smart kid.

bmiles@dailyherald.com

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