Here’s the Pitch . . . but First a Word From Our Sponsor

The tail wags the dog in baseball.

Acting Commissioner Bud Selig reaffirmed that in Cleveland the other night when, asked about the possibility of earlier starting times for World Series games, he said of the networks’ influence:

“We’re not completely masters of our own destiny.”

In other words, baseball is so financially indentured to television that it has lost control of its premier events.

At the same time, the slow pace and quality of pitching (baseball will take another hit next year with the addition of 20 or so pitchers through expansion) are definite factors in the longer games, and Selig said Saturday that there will be changes for the 1998 season.

“There are rules on the book, and we’re going to make sure they’re enforced,” he said. “We have to quit talking and get it done, and it will be by the start of spring training.”

He didn’t specify what rules would be enforced, but he suggested that batters must be kept in the batter’s box and pitchers must deliver their pitches within the authorized 20 seconds when there are no runners on base.

Former umpire Steve Palermo submitted recommendations for speeding up games at baseball’s request two years ago, but they were ignored.

The umpires have said they don’t want to be timekeepers, and the perception has been that baseball is no more willing to stand up to Richie Phillips and his umpires union as it has been to the networks.

Selig, however, said that wasn’t true, and that his informal talks with umpires have led him to believe they will enforce the rules.

What impact would that have on length of games?

“It ought to relate to 20 or 25 minutes, if not more,” Selig said.

He still has the networks with which to deal.

The networks want later starting times and longer games--they have actually fought the umpires on issues of pace and acceleration--to build up ratings on the West Coast.

In fact, World Series ratings have been higher in Los Angeles than in New York and Chicago, which, of course, is beside the point.

Earlier starting times, allowing youngsters and fans in the East and Central time zones to see the concluding innings, would make for better ratings across the country.

Selig reiterated Saturday that the fascination with ratings can be excessive, but “if we’re talking about being fan-friendly, then we have to put the games on when most people can see them.”

He conceded that better games in the current Series would have produced better ratings, but that the issue of starting times needs to be addressed.

Postseason games, including the generally faster games in the National League playoffs, have been averaging more than 3 hours 15 minutes.

Cleveland Indian games have been averaging a staggering, and slumbering, 3 hours 30 minutes. Those midnight affairs include the longer commercial breaks that TV demands.

The postseason breaks are 2 minutes 25 seconds between every half-inning and for every pitching change, and generally each stretches an additional 10 to 30 seconds.

That’s almost an hour of inactivity for most games, which means:

A game starting at 8:20 is actually starting at 9:20, and a 3-hour 15-minute game is actually 2 hours 15 minutes, which compares favorably to games of pre-TV decades and those before the breaks were so long.

Florida Manager Jim Leyland correctly pointed out the other night how contradictory baseball is when it talks about the need to improve demographics and get youngsters back, and then schedules its showcase games at an hour when the youngsters and their parents are in la-la land, as Leyland put it, before the sixth inning.

Selig and his cohorts need to, and could, do something about all of this, but their timid stance seems to be that they can’t do anything without a word from the sponsor. And baseball’s sponsor, of course, is almighty TV.

EXPANSION YARDSTICK

The Colorado Rockies reached the playoffs in their third season, the Marlins reached the World Series in their fifth, and now attention turns to the expansion draft Nov. 18 for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Colorado owner Jerry McMorris acknowledged there is a tendency for each to measure success against the other.

And he couldn’t resist a dig at the Marlins for their spending spree of last winter, joining others who have criticized the route taken by owner Wayne Huizenga.

“I don’t see the benefits of spending $89 million on free agents and then putting the team up for sale,” McMorris said. “It would be hard to say that this is the beginning of a dynasty.”

CRUZ CONTROL

A .218 batting average in the division series against the Baltimore Orioles underscored what Seattle Mariner Manager Lou Piniella believed throughout the season: A powerful offense that set a major league home run record is too one-dimensional.

“We need some little ball to go along with our big ball,” Piniella said in reflection. “Little ball comes to the ballpark every day. Long ball is sporadic. It’s a fun team to watch when the long ball is coming, especially with runners on base, but we didn’t have many opportunities to hit and run or steal bases. We need that to make our offense more well-rounded.”

With second baseman Joey Cora expected to leave as a free agent, the goal is to trade for a second baseman with speed and leadoff potential.

The Mariners, however, are limited in what they can offer, and are still in the market for a reliable closer, having failed to land one in those two deadline deals that cost the organization Jose Cruz Jr., a future star, among others--a price, said a Seattle scout, that has led to “a winter of recrimination and soul searching,” given the failure to advance past a division title.

NO GOLD

Defense was a major factor in the Detroit Tigers’ 26-victory improvement this year. The Tigers led the American League in fielding percentage but were shut out for the eighth year in a row when it came to Gold Glove selections, though cases could be made for third baseman Travis Fryman, shortstop Deivi Cruz and center fielder Brian Hunter.

“Part of being a young and growing club,” General Manager Randy Smith said. “Recognition in some cases isn’t going to come unless we move up in the standings.”

MORE GOLD

The arrival of an outstanding array of young shortstops has tended to leave Omar Vizquel overlooked, but not by the managers and coaches selecting the Gold Glove winners. Vizquel, who made another outstanding play Saturday against the Marlins, won his fifth in a row last week, prompting Johnny Goryl, the Indians’ veteran infield and bench coach, to consider the best shortstops he has seen and say, “Omar ranks right at the top. He doesn’t have the arm strength you’d like to see in a shortstop, but he has tremendous agility and outstanding range and seems to know how hard he needs to throw to get the runner.”

In addition, Goryl said, “He has a lot of larceny in his heart. I mean, when you see him make an over-the-shoulder basket catch going away from the infield, or fielding a ball barehanded as he did in the sixth game of the [1995] World Series. . . . well, that’s not something you encourage. But he’s confident enough to do it. I’m waiting for him to field a ball with his feet [and flip it up to his glove]. He’s been working on it in practice for a long time now.”