Ump blasts Sox/Yanks, loses cred

--Baseball games are long. Everybody knows this. And most FANS appreciate the fact that when the Yankees and Red Sox meet up, the games are even longer and more suspenseful. It's like a good movie that you don't want to end.

One long-time MLB umpire doesn't feel the same way and vocally slandered the two teams this week after the opener series, thus damaging his credibility on the diamond.

Crew-chief Umpire Joe West told the Bergen Record newspaper in New Jersey that the way the Yankees and Red Sox "drag out games is a disgrace to baseball." His main message what "speed it up!"

West added, "All of baseball looks to these two clubs to pick up the pace – the players aren't working with us."

Personally, I know how grueling some games can be. The cup scratching, adjusting of batting gloves, Catholic chest-crossing, random pacing, and personal timeouts can and should be cut down on. But they don't account for a majority of the time the game takes to play. The Red Sox/Yankee opener series games ran: 3 hours and 46 minutes; 3 hours and 48 minutes; and 3 hours and 21 minutes, respectively.

Keep in mind they were on TV two of those games, with TV timeouts stretching the game time even further than normal. And the Sox and Yanks typically are on TV. Why? Because people want to watch them, whether you're rooting for or against them.

But a respected umpire such as West making judgmental and inflammatory comments that, really, aren't part of his job can definitely affect his reliability behind the dish. Why? Because it shows bias! Umpires must be even-handed to uphold the integrity of the game.

Personally, I feel like West compromising his and his compadre umpires' credibility is much more of a threat to baseball than the Yankees and Red Sox playing half an hour longer than other teams.
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