I watched the Yankee-Red Sox game last night. It seems one has to drink a 50-gallon drum of Starbucks to hang with these games for 9 innings. A Red Sox vs.Yankees game today is like watching Ali & Frazier box a 15 round fight, painfully slow and lacking the drama you expect when they start.  I know all too well one of the reasons.

I distinctly remember a few entertaining conversations about pitching that I had on the veranda of the magnificent Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown with the late, great Warren Spahn and another Hall of Fame pitcher and friend, Robin Roberts. Comments they made to me years ago explain the length of today's games and the reason we get cheated out of what could be more exciting finishes and, likely, could save some teams money. ‘Spahnie’ would say, "Kid, when it's 2-2 in the 7th, the game is just starting." When I asked Robin, “How do you pitch to Willie Mays?” he would answer, “Tell me the inning, the score and the count.”

Watching Joba Chamberlain and Josh Beckett duel in last night's game reminded me of both of those comments. Chamberlain was dominant after the 3 run HR he gave up to Jason Bay. Beckett labored but was gritty and got big outs when he needed them. But, what fun it would have been if both of these power pitchers could have gone toe to toe in the 8th and 9th innings. Last night, they each threw 108 pitches in 6 innings or less, whereas, if pitching effectively, a 9 inning complete game should take about 115 if you're throwing a high percentage of strikes. 

Here’s the catch (or the pitch!), someone needs to teach pitchers to pitch to the scoreboard and to the count. Early in the game, pitchers tend to be afraid of the bat and hitters making contact. Why? It has always been my strategy to gamble early in the play and early in the game. I wanted to try to knock out every hitter in 3 or less pitches and/or try to make him get hits on all of them.  The great Sandy Koufax, a good friend of mine, said he was the most successful pitcher because he tried to get hitters to hit the ball, not miss the ball. Let’s face it, the best hitters get 3 hits out of 10 at bats. I remember times when I used to tell the catcher to call just fastball after fastball and get as many out as possible in the early innings. Then when it came down to the last few innings, I could use my other weapons more effectively. Curveballs, sliders, and everything else I had in my arsenal. That was when it really counted.

Pitchers today should be less cautious early on and try to throw as many strikes as possible to avoid long counts and keep hitters from seeing and deciphering too many pitches. When it's tied in the 7th and the pitcher has not been more economical and the pitch count stands at108 pitches, managers are forced to take him out. However, if it’s the 6th inning and he’s only thrown 75 pitches, he’s got enough to finish the game.

Here’s an example: Let's say a pitcher gives up a solo HR to David Ortiz on the 2nd pitch thrown, a fastball right down Broadway. The pitcher is behind now 1-0. Then Ortiz comes up in a tie game in the 7th and you've only thrown him 6 or 7 pitches in his 2 previous at bats. Now, you're still fresh enough to stay in the game and you can go to your other pitches that you haven't shown him yet and 'work him' differently than you did in the previous at bats.

Pitching is tougher these days. With smaller stadiums, a smaller strike zone, a tighter wound ball, and lighter, laminated, harder bats, there is little opportunity to keep hitters from diving into the ball without a fight, a warning or an ejection.  And hitters are bigger and stronger than ever. Watch some of the World Series highlights on the MLB channel and check out the size difference in the players then and now. But, even with that said, sooner or later you have to throw it over the plate.

There's plenty of data out there to support throwing aggressively early on.   If the hitter is behind in the count 0-1, 1-2, 0-2, he likely hits under .200. If it's 1-0, 2-0, 3-1, he's usually over .300. Today’s pitchers need to challenge hitters early in the game and trust their stuff and maybe they'll pop a few up or hit them at one of the fielders.  Only then will the pitcher be around to enjoy the thrill of trying to get hitters out with the game on the line in the 8th or 9th---and, as an added bonus, teams won't have to carry 12 pitchers on a staff and use 4-5 pitchers a game. 

It costs a lot of money to win a game today. Pitching costs alone can run a staggering $10-15 million for the ‘starter’, a couple million bucks for the ‘set-up’ pitcher to then get to the big money ‘closer’. I was pleasantly surprised when Pat Ruesse, a columnist from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, wrote a recent column pointing out that the 1967 Minnesota Twins staff, of which I was a member, had 8 pitchers pitch all but 34 innings during that season. We missed winning the pennant by only one game. It can be done today. Pitchers are bigger, stronger and, quite frankly, have better technique than we had in days past. They just need to be taught to pay attention to the scoreboard and pitch to the inning, the score, and the count.