Cardinals manager Mike Matheny believes pace of play "continues to be the utmost priority" for MLB following Wednesday's 3-hour, 23-minute game against the Rockies, according to Derrick Goold of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. Matheny, who sits on MLB's new committee to discuss and explore rule changes, said of the game, "That was awful. That was one of the slowest-paced games. That’s the stuff I think that turns off people who are on the bubble about the game of baseball. To sit through something like that? The pace, all around, it wasn’t good for the game." Goold notes Wednesday's game was only 12 minutes longer than Monday's nationally televised game between the clubs, but the breaks in action "were deeper, the milling around of players was longer, and the breaks between innings were back to 2 minutes." On Monday, the breaks were 1:40 or 1:45 long. Matheny said that another idea being discussed is to "limit the visits to the mound -- by anybody." That would "mean that a catcher visiting the pitcher or an infield visiting the pitcher would count as a visit." Matheny: "We’re going to have to figure out how to do that on the fly a little bit more. But not right now" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 7/28).
EXPERIMENTAL PROCESS: FORBES' Maury Brown noted MLB Network "experimented with the use of graphic overlays" for presenting sponsor Chevrolet as part of Tuesday night’s Rockies-Cardinals game on MLB Network. While commercials were "not totally removed, they were shorter." When "coming back to the game, the camera behind home plate pulled back to show the entire field of play, with the Chevrolet logo placed in the 1st and 3rd base foul areas, as well as on the batter’s eye." In another return from commercial, they "overlaid what appeared to be towers at the top of Busch Stadium with a banner displaying the Chevrolet logo." It is "hard saying" how RSNs or other national broadcasts might "receive doing these types of sponsor placements." But it does "create some flexibility for owners to allow shorter breaks without losing ad revenues" (FORBES.com, 7/27).
