As If Baseball Could Be Made Less Boring

Regarding "King for a day decrees longer PATs and shorter baseball games" (Tuesday Sports), I mostly agree with Randy Harvey's suggestions for Major League Baseball rules changes to speed up the game, but I've got one suggestion: rather than focus on giving a pitcher only 20 seconds between pitches, I'd give him, say, 90 seconds for the first five, and twenty seconds for every pitch thereafter, not including checking the runner back to first base.  That would let the pitcher set his own pace, and baseball geeks would be on the edge of their seats, timing him to see if he was ahead of the clock, and we could watch it tick down on the Jumbotron.

Along with that, though, there must be another change: batters are not allowed to step out of the box.  However long it takes the catcher to throw the ball back is how long the batter has to get themselves dug in. Is there anything more boring than watching a batter spit, adjust their batting gloves, spit, tweak their helmet, spit, hitch their pants, and then spit once more for good measure?

And while you're at it: lower the mound four inches.  Low scoring boring games?  Problem solved.  

Pete Smith

Houston, TX