Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/804369
4 PLAY BALL BAY AREA NEWS GROUP O ne day last season — or maybe the season before — there was a rain delay at AT&T Park. The Giants' locker room door was open. If the game was canceled, I would still need a column. So I entered the room and improvised. Visiting as many lockers as possible, I asked players to tell me one baseball rules change they might make, if given the power to do so. Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt were very receptive, as was Joe Panik. Their ideas were thoughtful: Video replay should be tweaked to include certain plays. And on ground-rule doubles, maybe it shouldn't be an automatic two bases for runners, THE GAME Forgetthetinkering,let'soverhaulthesebaseballrules HunterPence, scoring in a close call at the plate, thinks baseball is just fine the way it is. and umpires should have greater discretion on runner placement. There were a few other sugges- tions. All worth examining. Then I got to Hunter Pence. I posed the same question to him as to the others: What base - ball rule would he most like to change? Pence looked at me as if I had just asked him to assassinate a poodle. "Why ... would I want to change anything about baseball?" Pence asked. "Why?" I explained that I was not forc - ing him to make any changes. I just sought his input on the topic. "I don't understand why you'd want baseball any different than the way it is," Pence said, still puzzled. "Baseball is perfect." As it turned out, the sun appeared. The delay ended. The game resumed. So I never wrote the column. But I've been think - ing a lot about that rain-delay exchange ever since Major League Baseball announced over the win- ter that this season, at the lower minor league level, a new rule will be implemented whenever a game enters extra innings. When that happens, each team will begin its at-bat with a runner placed on second base. This will theoretical - ly hasten the game's conclusion. It is also theoretically goofy, if you ask me. While covering the Olympics, I saw the same rule uti - lized in softball, which is famous for having pitching duels and low scoring. The rule worked. Games ended quicker. But whenever I saw a game end that way, it al- ways felt like cheating to me. And, wild guess here: I am pretty sure that Hunter Pence wouldn't like it. Rob Manfred kind of does. The baseball commissioner was a busy rules-fiddler and rules-tweaker over the winter. Manfred decided he wanted to make intentional walks automatic (with the pitcher just pointing the batter to first base rather than physically throw - ing four balls out of the strike zone). The players' contract gives them the right to vote down any Mark Purdy JOSIELEPE/STAFF