I get what Paplebon is saying but there are things the League Office can do to further speed things up. For example, MLB has to stop the incessant mound visits. It’s completely absurd to be watching a game & see Jorge Posada make 30 mound visits. Things like that can & should be addressed.

A game should last as long as it needs to last! That’s it! If you don’t like it, don’t watch it! This is baseball people…….

I agree with Pap..If it’s an intense game, why speed it up..It’s nice to have those long games..If it goes by too fast people will be like “damn it’s over already?”..

Cole, do you realize how stupid you sound complaining about Posada when your catcher (well, your backup) used to spend half the game on the mound with his pitchers?

And I’m not bashing Varitek for it either, he’s great at handling pitchers and that was one of the reasons why. But to blame Posada is slightly ridiculous.

And yes, even as a Yankees fan, I completely agree with Papelbon.

Unfortunately there are no stats to do a comparison on mound visits, but that is definitely an arguable point. Punch in “frequent mound visits by catcher” into Google and see who’s name comes up Greg.

The MLB is even looking into limiting the visits because of the mileage Posada logged in last year’s post-season. 8 times in ONE INNING? 4 times against one batter? Play ball.

cut some commercials!

Maybe you so called Red Sox fans as I am should learn to read & understand what you read! They are talking about the Sox / Yankees games in general not just the one being played against each other! Wake up Sox fans & smell the coffee. Games are way to long when either the Sox or Yankees are involved.

Any stats on game length of the top teams playing head to head? I’m guessing there is a lot more strategy involved in these games and that they all take longer. Paps is right – let the game be the game.

Major League Baseball suffers greatly from games being too long. TV ratings vary widely over the course of a 9-inning game. A crisp 2-hour game is perfect–3 hours is too long, and of course with an average of 3 hours for the Yank-me’s and the Sox, half the games last longer than 3 hours (for all you math majors out there). Some suggestions:
–get rid of the DH (they should do this regardless)
–make the 3rd foul ball as an out! More hitters would look to hit the ball, rather than “fight it off”
If not, then MLB should institute a “tea break” as in cricket.

I think there are some good points made here..One that stuck out to me was that these 2 teams have a lot of players that take a lot of pitches..Its a constant back and forth with some of the top pitchers and hitters in the league..Mound visits can and should be limited per inning..a lot of that is stalling to get the next pitcher warmed up,I understand..Nonetheless, should be limited..All in all i think if its a great game that lasts 5 hours, so be it..A great game is a great game…

I Agree with “Jon”

“A game should last as long as it needs to last! That’s it! If you don’t like it, don’t watch it! This is baseball people” !!!!!!!!!!!!!

As one who doesn’t begrudge the time of a Yankee-Red Sox game, how about limiting the number of times to 2, that a catcher can go to the mound in one inning..?? I don’t know what a proper penalty should be, but like a pitcher going to his mouth, how about the umpire calling a ball on any subsequent trips??

The main reason that Sox-Yankees games are longer than most other games is that they are so often the ESPN game, and have many more commercial breaks in them.

The secondary reason is that both teams are indeed very deliberate in how they work their at-bats and how their pitchers work counts and pitch selection.

And by the way, Posada is well known throughout baseball as THE poster child for making too many mound visits.

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