Why pitchers need to work more quickly

I had no idea that former Royals catcher Brent Mayne even had a blog, but Buster Olney points it out this morning with a link to a great post. Brent Mayne on why pitchers need to pick up the pace:

Here’s a question for you. From 2003 to 2009, can you guess who the five quickest working pitchers were? Just five schleprocks named Greg Maddux, Mark Buehrle, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Jake Peavy. I’m might be crazy, but I’ll take that starting staff.

Once again, let me reiterate that working quickly works . . . Pitchers who work quickly are more effective. The defensive players behind a fast working pitcher are more consistent. Hitters facing a quick pitcher are less effective. Girlfriends of pitchers who pitch quickly are happier. Short games are a thing of beauty.

He’s so, so right. As a fan, I certainly want the game to move more quickly. Not lighting fast, of course -- I want some time to soak it all in -- but at least back to the pace we used to see as recently as the 80s when guys would get the ball and fire it back in there in less than a minute or eight.

But as a manager, I’d definitely want my guys working faster too. Sure, not everyone is Greg Maddux or Roy Halladay, but as Mayne points out in the rest of his post, hitters benefit way more than pitchers do from all that extra time. Whaddaya need all that time for anyway? To think? Don’t think, for God’s sake. It can only hurt the ball club.