stuff. Theyve both had troubles with the long ball, Dickey gi

Baseball season is just under two weeks old… Are you tired yet? For a sport which can cite the speed of the game as one of its major detractors, the 2014 season has already seen developments come to light to call into question whether the game needs to be sped up. The advent of instant replay on select plays, allowing managers to challenge contentious calls, has added yet another stall tactic to the great summer spectacle. Naturally, two weeks in, a pattern has emerged. Many organizations have employed or utilized a “video coach” whose job it is to keep an eye on a monitor when close plays come about and to double-check whether the right call was made. In order to give managers better odds of winning challenges, a trend has now emerged where skippers saunter out to the umpire to discuss the call while awaiting a signal from the bench to decide whether or not the play is “challenge-worthy”. Sometimes it is not and the game proceeds. Sometimes it is and more time is spent actually reviewing the play in question. So, whats the solution? Well, according to a report from ESPNs Buster Olney earlier this week, one MLB executive believes seven-inning games would help get the games done in roughly two-and-a-half hours. But is that really the best way to speed up the game? Solutions have been pitched before, however. In 2007, the MLBs official rules were altered to reduce the maximum amount of time a pitcher was allowed between pitches without runners on base. Under these rules, a pitcher was allowed no more than 12 seconds between pitches (down from 20) with the bases empty. The penalty for exceeding that time limit is an extra ball added to the batters count. Still, games clock in regularly at north of three hours. So, is the seven-inning game a viable solution for Major League Baseball? Changes have been made in the past to alter the quality of the game both on- and off the field including the advent of the live-ball era, the lowering and raising of the pitchers mound and – most notably – the restructuring of the Leagues substance abuse policy in the wake of the “Steroid era”. Speaking of which: Wouldnt a switch to seven innings be a clever way to asterisk the records that Major League Baseball is hesitant to recognize? “Sure, Barry Bonds is the all-time home run king… but that was during the nine-inning era.” What do you say? Would you be in favour of just heading home at the seventh-inning stretch? As always, its Your! Call. Cheap College Jerseys 2020 .The South African had three birdies on the front nine and another four after the turn at Leopard Creek Country Club to move to 16-under 128 overall.Grace, who won all four of his European Tour titles in 2012, dropped his only shot of the competition on the par-3 fifth. Fake NCAA Jerseys . -- Phil Mickelson will be watching the final two rounds of the Masters from home for the first time in 17 years. https://www.ncaajerseys2020.com/ . The Jets have now won three straight at home and four of the last five at the MTS Centre. After a scoreless first period, Brad Marchand scored his first goal in eight games eight seconds into the second. Fake College Jerseys .com) - The Toronto Raptors are paying Rudy Gay a visit on Wednesday night when they head into the Sleep Train Arena to take on the Sacramento Kings. NCAA Jerseys 2020 . "You hate when they score," he said with some distaste at the thought. "You take pride in it.If we were playing "Jeopardy" the answer would be Bronson Arroyo. The question might blow you away, as it did me. Who is the winningest pitcher in the National League since 2006? Yes it is the Reds 36-year-old right hander. Arroyo has chalked up 104 victories since joining Cincinnati in 2006. He also happens to be a free-agent at the end of this season. Im not advocating the Blue Jays go right out and sign him, but maybe they should take a look at the overall success and health of the Reds pitching staff, especially over the last two seasons. A year ago, the Reds only had to use, six starters all season long. Four of the five regulars pitched 200 innings and the other, Mike Leake, reached 179. Oddly enough the other starter was current Blue Jays right hander Todd Redmond, who made all of one start for the Reds. The Reds staff made 98 quality starts and they had an ERA of 3.34, helping boost the club to a 97-65 record. The Blue Jays on the other hand in 2012, had to use 12 starters. They lost three, Kyle Drabek, Drew Hutchison, and Brandon Morrow for a substantial part of the season. The Jays only had 75 quality starts, a staff ERA of 4.64 and not a single pitcher who reached 200 innings. They also finished with a dismal 73-89 record. So have things changed that much this season, for either team? Not really!. The Reds has used eight starters this season, in part because the man whos arguably their ace, Johnny Cueto, has been injured for much of the season. Check out their other four main starters though, Matt Latos is (13-5), Mike Leake (11-5), Arroyo (13-9) and Homer Bailey, who threw a no-hitter earlier this season, is (9-10). All four are on pace to throw over 200 innings. On top of that all four have less than 50 walks apiece. The Reds top prospect, lefty Tony Cingrani came up to fill in for Cueto, and has built a (6-3) record with 16 quality starts in 21 outings. With the exception of Arroyo (36), all of the Reds starters are 27 years old or younger, while Cingrani is only 24. All-together, if you throw in Cuetos five quality starts, the Reds have 89 quality starts in 134 games, which takes a lot of pressure off the bullpen. Cincinnati has only issued 354 walks. The only teams to have allowed fewer in the Senior Circuit are Atlanta and Washington who share the lead with 342. The Blue Jays on the other hand have given up 430 wallks.dddddddddddd The Blue Jays staff ERA is 4.40, exactly one run higher than the Reds. Though R.A Dickey hasnt pitched like a Cy Young winner this time around, he hasnt been a total wash-out either. He has 15 quality starts, and with 182.2 innings, is in easy range of 200 for the campaign. Mark Buehrle, whos been the Jays most consistent and best starter this season, has a 10-7 record and 15 quality starts, tied with Dickey for the team lead. He only needs 28 more innings to crack the 200 mark. Again the injuries have done the Jays staff in. Brandon Morrow, J.A Happ and Josh Johnson have all missed significant time, and Johnson and Morrow are done for the season. Why have the Reds been so successful the last two years while the Jays have not? Hard to say. The Reds play in essentially the same kind of home stadium as the Jays. In other words, fly balls can turn into home runs easily. The Reds try to combat that by employing hard throwing strikeout type pitchers. They also have Bryan Price as their pitching coach, whos reputed to be one of the best in the business. The Blue Jays best two starters this year are Buehrle and Dickey, who dont blow you away with hard stuff. Theyve both had troubles with the long ball, Dickey giving up 29 and Buehrle 20 with the bulk coming at Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays, largely because of the injuries, havent had the power arms to augment them. The Jays also have a rookie pitching coach, at least at this level , in Pete Walker which also may be a factor, but all of the above explains why GM Alex Anthopoulos said this week that his top priority in the off-season is to fix the starting rotation. One brilliant decision the Blue Jays made this season was getting an agreement to put their Triple "A" affiliate in Buffalo in the International League. The Bisons, though unlikely to make the playoffs, drew 16,998 fans for their final home game Thursday evening, on "Fan Appreciation Night". They averaged 8,273 fans per game according to the Buffalo News, which was an increase of 12.25% over 2012, when they were the Mets farm club. It is the largest year to year increase in attendance in their current ballparks history. Just one of the reasons, the Jays have extended their deal with the Bisons and Buffalo for another two years, covering them thru 2016. ' ' '