re game length was re braves update mzimmers netcom com michael zimmers writes first a longer game in no way suggests more baseball to watch unless you include watching the grass grow as baseball i definitely do that s why i don t like going to see games played on artificial turf the lengthier games are so because of batters stepping out of the box pitchers taking longer between pitches and excessive trips to the mound by managers and pitching coaches and while it s true that the gaps between plays can be interesting this is only true when they don t become extra long well your idea of interesting differs from mine i think batting practice is interesting for example and make a special effort to get to the game very early in order to see it i think the delaying tactics of batters pitchers catchers and managers are interesting because they re attempts to gain advantage through control of the flow and timing of the game of course the umpires can and should intervene when these tactics get out of hand as ryan robbins has pointed out there are rules that cover this one of the more fascinating things about baseball i think is its open endedness with regard to time you never know if the game is going to zip right by and be over in less than two hours or if it s going to go on until four in the morning likewise some games are action packed and some games are slow and lazy that s fine by me those folks who want constant action should watch the games on tv so they can channel surf and cater to their short attention spans heather hhenderson vax clarku edu
