Baseball Television Viewing

Blog Entry #3

 

          Last night I was watching the Red Sox play the Yankees as I always do, and was pondering how long baseball games have become.  I was thinking about both the lengths of games and the intensity of rivalry games.  I know there are the simple games in which pitchers pitch gems and end up winning 1-0 or 2-1 games.  But then there is always that game, cough cough Red Sox Yankees cough cough that end up play for four, maybe even five hours.  Last night the defending NL Champion Colorado Rockies defeated the Padres in twenty-two innings! Twenty-two innings!  The score was 2-1.  This has to stop ASAP.

          I can understand that rivalry games go on a little longer due to a good ole brawl or maybe even some ejections.  The Red Sox and Yankees played last night with first pitch at 7:05 and last pitch around 11:35.  The score was 7-5 but with all the commercial advertising during pitching changes and inning swaps it became out of control.  I don’t need to know that Verizon is running a phone special or that Applebee’s has a new appetizer on its menu.  I am about to lose my mind over all of this.

          Rivalry games continue to show friction whether it be visual or in the air.  The Sox and Yanks showed tension last night when on the first pitch of the game, Jacoby Ellsbury was hit by Mike Mussina.  Two innings later, he was hit again and that’s when I began to become suspicious.  Later in the game in the seventh inning, Kyle Farnsworth had just come into the game and he threw behind Manny Ramirez who had hit two homeruns and a single.  Manny dropped his bat and took a long stare out at the pitcher as both teams and the pitcher were warned.  I felt that that in what seemed as Josh Beckett’s last inning of work that he would hit either Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriguez.  That didn’t happen and he pitched another inning actually with no harm done.  The same things happen when the Cubs and White Sox have their Southside vs. North side battle of inter-league play.  Even in different sports like football with the Colts vs. Patriots, there are feuds.  Honestly, rivalry games make sports make sports.

          On the contrary, the long lasting division games between the Orioles and the Rays are no fun.  Those games give nothing to viewers wanting to learn more of the sport where each team has 45 walks and they score 25 runs each.  I turn on these games and have to shield my eyes because our JV baseball team is playing better then they are.  I understand that these games need to be played and should be treated like all other games, although they don’t offer as much, you never know when something spectacular is going to happen.  As much as I love to play baseball, the length and mediocre intensity of games need to be changed to enhance the viewing experience and possibly bring in more baseball fans.