May 5, 2008
Time for a Time Clock in Baseball
When
the playoffs roll around in any sport there’s always going to be a few stories
that go along with it, especially when we’re trying to broadcast.
One
of the difficult aspects of broadcasting baseball is that there are no time
limits. A game could last two hours or four hours. I doubt very seriously that
the Huffman Falcons ever played a two hour game.
When
you’re in Little League or you’re playing a tournament where a time limit
applies, there’s always the old trick of calling time, getting your player to
tie his shoes or fake an injury to make the game last longer thus keeping the
visiting team from batting in the next inning.
Or
there’s the situation where a pitcher is in a groove and working quickly so you
call time to get him out of his rhythm. But what we witnessed this past weekend
seemed to do more to us and the Bear fans than it did to the LCM baseball team.
The
question we never got answered was whether it was their strategy or that’s just
the way they’re coached.
If
you would’ve told me after the Bears won the Bi-district round series that
Huffman called time more than 100 times, I couldn’t dispute it and would
probably believe you.
Huffman Coach Tom DeBerry was not overweight, in fact he was thin. He did not
walk with a limp. But he walked so slow he looked like an old woman in slippers
shuffling across the floor.
On
top of walking slow, instead of walking to his third base coaches box from his
first base dugout during warm-ups, he would wait until the defense had warmed up
and thrown the balls in before shuffling over to the other side of the field.
Then,
when Huffman was on the field, he would call time to go and talk to his pitcher,
then pull his infield in and talk to them. He would wait for the umpire to come
in and run him off. He’d shuffle back to the dugout and then right before the
next pitch was thrown, the catcher would call time and go back and talk to the
pitcher.
Even
some of his batters would call time to go talk to him when there were no outs
and no one on base. What do you say besides hit the ball? At times it was
really excruciating, especially when you’re trying to fill dead air!
We
never noticed LCM Coach Steve Griffith complain about the delays. Instead he
responded with a few of his own. The umpires did not appear to catch on because
they used a completely different crew on Saturday than they did on Friday.
So
on Saturday alone, during the doubleheader, I spent nine hours at Don Gibbens
Field. And I don’t get paid overtime. I’ve always wanted to talk to the boss
about that.
The
only bonus was that the Bears won both games to advance to a best of three
series this week against Lamar Consolidated. Game One is Thursday at 7pm at
Galena Park North Shore High School.
Games Two and Three if necessary will begin at 5:30 Friday at Barbers Hill High
School.
Why
the possible doubleheader on Friday? LCM has its prom on Saturday.
After
a very ho-hum performance on Friday, it was nice to see the Bears play the way
they are capable of playing on Saturday. Being at home had to be an advantage,
something I doubt they’ll do again during these playoffs.
Lamar
Consolidated has had a good year. They won the 4A Division I football title
this year and their baseball team is the 24-4A Champs. Six of the players were
on the 2003 Richmond team that played in the Little League World Series.
Last
season the Mustangs were also the district champs but lost to Barbers Hill in
two straight following their first round bye.
The
Bridge City Cardinals also begin a three game series on Thursday. They will
play the Needville Bluejays in Humble with Game One on Thursday at 7:30pm. Game
Two will be Friday at 7:30 and Game Three if necessary
will begin Saturday at 2pm.
The
Cardinals clipped the Jays in the third round last season, losing the first game
before winning the last two.
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