MLB should thank La Russa, White Sox for taking focus off 'unwatchable game'

We're less than two months into the season, and there have already been six no-hitters.

In Friday night's White Sox-Yankees game, starting pitcher Carlos Rodon and New York counterpart Jordan Montgomery combined to strike out 24 over 13 scoreless innings.

Heading into Saturday's play, major-league hitters had a cumulative .237 batting average and were striking out roughly once in every 4 at-bats.

With so much overpowering pitching and so little contact hitting, Marlins manager Don Mattingly had some interesting comments on Thursday.

"It's great for your team when a guy throws a no-no, it's great for that guy, it's a great accomplishment," Mattingly told Miami reporters. "But when there's so many, so early, strikeouts are at an all-time high, things like that, it tells you that there are some issues in the game that need to be addressed."

"Now we're at a point where it's getting so much attention because it's just a game that sometimes is unwatchable. Guys you talk to, they don't even like watching games because there's nothing that goes on in them."

With that in mind, maybe MLB should send Sox manager Tony La Russa a thank-you card.

For much of the past week, the focus shifted from all the scoreless innings and swings and misses to La Russa's reaction to rookie Yermin Mercedes unloading on a 3-0 pitch and homering late in the White Sox's 16-4 win over the Twins Monday night.

La Russa didn't like it, and he said so. He got some support from the dwindling old-school crowd, but most of the local and national reaction was negative.

That brings us to the unwritten rules of baseball, which have been talked about a lot the last few days.

In theory, I'm with La Russa on not swinging at a 3-0 pitch in the final inning of a blowout game.

This one had a different twist.

Minnesota made a joke of Monday's game when it put Willians Astudillo on the mound. He's a utility player, and Astudillo was lobbing the type of pitches you typically see in 16-inch softball.

Stealing bases late in lopsided games breaks another unwritten rule, and it's not something you see a lot unless there is some bad blood between the two teams on the field.

There is a humorous side note to the no-steal mandate, involving Michael Jordan playing for Class AA Birmingham in 1994.

With the Barons up on Chattanooga 11-0, Jordan doubled and decided it would be a good idea to steal third base.

Indians manager Terry Francona was with Birmingham in '94, and he recalled Jordan breaking the unwritten rule in an ESPN interview.

"I'm pantomiming an apology to Pat Kelly, the (Chattanooga) manager, and he's laughing," Francona said. "After Michael comes in I'm like, 'What are trying to do, get us killed?' And he says, 'Well, in the NBA, when you're up by 20, you try to go up by 30.'"

MLB is not the NBA, and baseball has other unwritten rules.

Bunting to break up a no-hitter is not kosher, nor is letting a pitch hit you. That's what Cleveland's Roberto Perez did to Rodon on April 14, costing the White Sox's lefty a perfect game.

Not mentioning a pitcher having a no-hitter going is another unwritten rule. That's always been a dumb one, and it should be scrapped for good since there already are a half dozen in the books so far this season.

Making the first out of inning at third base or using the closer in a tie game on the road are other unwritten rules, but neither come close to swinging on 3-0 and igniting a firestorm like La Russa and Mercedes did.