playing with 8

[Tru_in_Blu]

Originally Posted by Skahtboi

One of the most exciting finishes to a game I have ever seen, happens this way. Years ago, with Michael Young on third and a tie game, the Rangers won on a passed ball that allowed him to score. Also, in a 14 inning playoff game in HS that I had the luck of having the plate for; a 1-1 score in the bottom of the 14th, runners on 2 and 3, the defense opted to walk the batter. The second pitch went awry and the runner from 3rd dashed home. Had this single event not occurred, I fear, these many years later, I would be standing there still.

To me, that's not exciting - it's anticlimactic. Probably not too exciting if it was the Rangers that lost the game. Walk off wild pitches, walk off balks are not exciting. Lots of other things are, too numerous to list.

If I'm the PU in your 14 inning game, I'm disappointed in the way it ended.

I've lived this type of situation in softball as a pitcher. In the bottom of the 10th inning in a 0-0 game, with 2 outs and a runner on third base, I threw a pitch that was missed by my catcher. Probably a wild pitch, maybe a passed ball - doesn't matter. Losing a game like that was disheartening. Had the batter delivered a base hit to win the game, tip your hat - but to lose a game like we did was worse.

The intentional pass is to speed up the game. If your offensive game plan is relying on a wild pitch on a 4-pitch intentional walk, you need remedial training.

[Skahtboi]

Originally Posted by Tru_in_Blu

To me, that's not exciting - it's anticlimactic. Probably not too exciting if it was the Rangers that lost the game. Walk off wild pitches, walk off balks are not exciting. Lots of other things are, too numerous to list.

If I'm the PU in your 14 inning game, I'm disappointed in the way it ended.

I've lived this type of situation in softball as a pitcher. In the bottom of the 10th inning in a 0-0 game, with 2 outs and a runner on third base, I threw a pitch that was missed by my catcher. Probably a wild pitch, maybe a passed ball - doesn't matter. Losing a game like that was disheartening. Had the batter delivered a base hit to win the game, tip your hat - but to lose a game like we did was worse.

The intentional pass is to speed up the game. If your offensive game plan is relying on a wild pitch on a 4-pitch intentional walk, you need remedial training.

I think you missed the intent of what I posted. The intentional pass takes away a scoring opportunity. Studies have been done (if you need sources, let me know) that show the new way of walking a batter v the traditional way, saved about 37 seconds. This is in MLB. In FP I would dare say that number is much lower, probably around 20-25 seconds. (Dimension of the field, shorter pitching/ball return distance. Now, on average, how many intentional passes do you see per game. (On average for me, it would be <1). But let's say you have a whopping 3 in one game. Wow! You saved less than two minutes. Holey catz!!!

Now I am curious. Do you stick to the five pitch/one minute from the last out of the previous half inning rule? I have found that really speeds up the game. Good game manangement. Many times, the players haven't even taken the field in the one minute, unless someone is calling/hustling them out. These are the times no warm ups are allowed. It is rare that I see the pitcher who has time to get in 5 pitches. Interestingly, whenever I do evaluations, I use a stop watch to measure this. The good umpire falls into the 1:30 range where this rule is concerned. With the average coming in closer to 2:00. The highest I ever timed without subs or some other game duty going on, was 4:15. But let's use the good umipire number. :30 per half inning x a 7 inning game (13) Hmmm...that takes off 6:30 per game. I think, rather than taking away a scoring opportunity from the offense, even if you happen to find it boring, the game would be better served by holding umpires and teams to the rules that were already in place before this one came along.