Rivera 1, Joe West 0

Baseball is a languorous sport. There is no game clock, no best 3-of-5 sets or 18th hole--you play until one team wins. That leads to long games, especially in the era of four-minute commercial breaks and batters stepping out between most pitches.

That fact has apparently been lost on veteran umpire Joe West, who ripped the Yankees and Red Sox after they averaged a length of 3:39 per game in their three-game set this week. "It's embarrassing and pathetic," West told the Bergen County Record. "They take too long to play."

I could respond that the opening night game (clocked in at 3:46) included stoppages for "God Bless America" and "Sweet Caroline," that all three games were tied in the seventh or later, leading to more pitching changes and deliberate play, and that New York-Boston games are always long. But why respond myself when Mariano Rivera has already said it all?

A man of few words and fewer put-downs, Rivera angrily fired back at West, telling the New York Post the teams "don't want to play four-hour games, but that's what it takes." Turning to West's comments, Rivera was incredulous--and pissed.

It's incredible. If he has places to go, let him do something else. What does he want us to do, swing at balls?

Not only is Rivera as sharp with the tongue as he is with the cutter, he's absolutely right. Both teams played completely within the rules. Against good pitchers (which both teams have in spades) batters are going to step out regularly in an attempt to disrupt their timing. That's perfectly legal, AND it works.

If West really has a gripe with the length of games, he should appeal to Major League Baseball to change the rules (for example, give hurlers a max of 15 seconds between pitches and limit batters to one step-out per at bat). Whining to the press and calling two of the most professional teams in baseball "pathetic" doesn't change anything, Joe. The only pathetic figure here is you.