BASEBALL : Faster Play Long Time in Coming

The trend to longer baseball games would seem to benefit concession sales, but it may not even do that. Fans are leaving earlier and Commissioner Fay Vincent is concerned.

“My concern is that we’re seeing a deterioration in the process of moving a game from the first inning to the ninth,” he said from his New York office.

“The average game now is close to three hours and it wasn’t long ago that they were being played in 2 hours and 20 minutes.

“I don’t want to overstate the problem, but there’s a sense of frustration to it and we’re looking at possible solutions, seeing if there’s something we can do. I just don’t think it’s susceptible to a quick fix.”

The National League average in 1990 was 2 hours 45 minutes. The Dodgers averaged 2:47, the Angels 2:48. Nine American League teams averaged more than 2:48, with a high of 3:01 by Baltimore. On Wednesday, arbitrarily picking a day, the 13 major league games averaged 2:54.

“Attendance is up 6%, so obviously fans are not being driven away, but it’s also clear that many are leaving by 10 o’clock, no matter what’s happening in the game, because they have to go to work the next day,” Vincent said.

He added that he has talked with umpires, the two league presidents and the players’ association, but there are no easy solutions to a problem having a variety of roots, according to players, managers and club officials.

Among the factors:

--Thin pitching talent, which translates to more walks, managerial visits and calls for relief.

--Refusal of the umpires to serve as timekeepers and enforce a rule calling for the pitcher to deliver a pitch every 20 seconds.

--Inability of the umpires to keep the batter in the box and inconsistency in calling the high strike and inside strike, leading to more pitches and walks.

--A 30-second increase to two minutes between innings for advertising purposes, adding almost 20 minutes over nine innings.

That deals with economics and is unlikely to be amended.

And rules, Vincent said, are probably not the issue as much as an enforcement of what is already there, an awareness of the problem by everyone involved and an attempt to correct it.

“The wonderful thing about baseball is that there’s no clock,” he said. “The length of the game doesn’t determine the level of enjoyment. There are three-hour games that seem short and two-hour games that seem long. As I’ve said many times, the longest game I ever saw was the best game I ever saw.”

He referred to the 1986 playoff game between the New York Mets and Houston Astros, which covered 12 innings and lasted for 3 hours 45 minutes. Would that have seemed so exciting on a Tuesday night in May?

“Baseball defies generalizations,” Vincent said. “The problem we have is simply finding a way to keep the game moving, making sure the pauses are necessary and appropriate. I don’t say that all players do it, but we have too many taking 10- to 15-second walks after every pitch.

“Bobby Brown (the American League president who formerly played with the New York Yankees) told me that if he had ever started walking around the batter’s box like some of these guys, Casey (Stengel) would have hit for him on the grounds that he didn’t look like he wanted to hit.”

Perhaps there should be a rule to that effect, the pause to refresh being a reason to replace.

THE BUCK STOPS . . . ?

The Montreal Expos’ firing of Buck Rodgers was the fifth managerial change in the National League East in the 13 months since the Mets started it by replacing Davey Johnson with Bud Harrelson.

Despite Rodgers’ banner job in a no-win environment--the best Expo players frequently defect to the U.S.--there was an inevitability to his removal.

Dave Dombrowski, at 34 baseball’s youngest general manager and the only one to maintain a clubhouse locker, never considered Rodgers “his” man.

He tried to fire him two years ago and was overruled by then-owner Charles Bronfman. He got his way with the new owners after moving Tom Runnells in as third base coach and managerial heir, and refusing to extend Rodgers’ contract last winter.

“Dave is going to be a good general manager,” Rodgers said. “But this was his first job. He was green, impatient and wore his emotions on his sleeve.

“We had disagreements on how to bring players along. I don’t think he recognized and understood the mental aspect of player development.”

Dombrowski fired Rodgers with an early-morning phone call.

“His style,” said Rodgers of the absence of a face-to-face meeting.

The Expos struggled through April with potential starting pitchers Mark Gardner and Brian Barnes on the disabled list and the bellwether bats of Tim Wallach and Andres Galarraga suffering anemia, but Rodgers might have delayed the inevitable if relief ace Tim Burke and his new set-up man, Barry Jones, had done their jobs.

But at the time of Rodgers’ firing, a bullpen that tied as the National League’s best last year had blown 11 of 20 save opportunities.

“We blew more saves in a quarter of a year than we did all of last year,” Rodgers said. “Even though we weren’t hitting and had key pitchers on the DL, we would have been right there if we had closed out the games we should have.”

Now back at his Yorba Linda home after six-plus years at the Expos’ helm, Rodgers said he plans to relax, although his name is already being linked to other jobs.

There is speculation that he will join the Philadelphia Phillies in a field or front-office position, reunited with Lee Thomas and Jim Fregosi, comrades from the early years with the Angels.

There is also speculation that he will replace either Harrelson with the Mets or Greg Riddoch with the San Diego Padres. Both have been experiencing clubhouse turmoil recently.

Harrelson had a dugout shouting and shoving match with pitcher David Cone the other day, supposedly over the call of a pitchout. But the incident might have had more to do with a widespread perception among the Mets that coach Doc Edwards is running the team.

Harrelson also has been openly criticized by players for his defensive alignments and strategies.

Riddoch was portrayed by the recently traded Garry Templeton as a back-stabber. He was also second-guessed by his general manager, Joe McIlvaine, for the way he handled the recent benching of Benito Santiago and for permitting a deteriorating relationship between coach Rob Picciolo and shortstop Tony Fernandez to erupt into a headline-making shouting match.

Will Rodgers be rushed into either breach? Probably not.

The Mets, still paying Johnson $500,000 a year not to manage, can’t be expected to add Harrelson’s $250,000 salary to it unless the situation gets out of hand. Besides, Harrelson was club President Frank Cashen’s personal pick and there’s ego involved.

McIlvaine, who as a Met executive publicly praised Rodgers, is likely to give Riddoch more rope, and San Diego insiders figure that, if a change is made, the new manager will be Jim Riggleman, a former St. Louis Cardinal coach who was hired to manage the Padres’ triple-A affiliate at Las Vegas this year.

A’S AGONY

A team of less character and depth might have collapsed by now, but the Oakland Athletics continue to weather an incredible injury siege.

“When somebody goes down, there’s somebody there to try and pick him up,” infielder Mike Gallego said.

“It’s the attitude we have that makes for a winning combination. Other teams can say they have it and they might, but for the last three years we’re the team that’s shown it.”

The injuries of the last two years seem insignificant compared to what the A’s have been forced to endure in 1991.

They have already used the disabled list 13 times, compared to eight all of last year. They have employed seven rookie pitchers and put eight pitchers on the disabled list. Of the 11 pitchers on the opening-day roster, only Bob Welch, Dennis Eckersley and Mike Moore have not been on the disabled list.

This week:

--Shortstop Walt Weiss ruptured ankle ligaments running to first base and could be out for the season, joining third baseman Carney Lansford, who tore up a knee in a snowmobile accident over the winter.

--Pitcher Joe Klink, who was 5-2 and had filled a critical void as Eckersley’s set-up man when Todd Burns, Gene Nelson and Rick Honeycutt all had to be put on the disabled list, suffered a broken bone in his foot when hit by a line drive and will miss at least six weeks, compounding the continued absence of Honeycutt and Burns, neither of whom is expected back for another month.

--Catcher Terry Steinbach suffered a concussion when beaned by Chicago White Sox pitcher Bobby Thigpen and did not play during the first six games of the current home stand.

The A’s still have eight players on the disabled list and must hope that Rickey Henderson’s creativity and the power of Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and Dave Henderson--the A’s have hit 16 three-run homers--can compensate for the devastated pitching staff and the Lansford-Weiss wipeout on the left side of the infield.

Said Manager Tony La Russa, with a show of bravado: “We’re paying a big price right now, but if we keep trying and keep our heads up, there’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll be there and in contention in September.”