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MLB has decided to stick with its pitch clock system, for the most part, with Opening Day a week away. Which is to be expected, given how well it has worked in spring training.

But there is always room for improvement. The league is fine-tuning some things and those adjustments were outlined in a recent memo, according to ESPN. Among the points of emphasis:

New standards will be enforced for bat boys and bat girls, whose ability to quickly retrieve equipment will help efforts to speed up the game, according to the memo. The league will evaluate the performances of bat boys and bat girls and could ask teams to replace them if their performance is considered substandard.

Kudos to commissioner Rob Manfred’s office for having the courage to tackle the real issue with pace of play. No lallygagging, no fiddlefarting. Have a sense of urgency and pick up that damn bat now. If you cannot? The eye in the sky does not lie. And you’ll be gone so fast your head will spin.

You think Bobby Savoy would have made the cut? Probably not. Then he never makes the Savoy Special, never hands it to Roy Hobbs, Hobbs strikes out without Wonderboy, probably bleeds out and The Judge becomes full owner of the Knights.

Anyway, imagine being the guy who has to grade the Athletics’ bat boys and bat girls. That deserves hazard pay.

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James Kratch can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @jameskratch.

 

James Kratch is the managing editor of ESNY. He previously worked as a Rutgers and Giants (and Mike Francesa) beat reporter for NJ Advance Media.