Yankees and Red Sox fans or fans in general, do you agree with Joe West?

No.

If he doesn't like being on prime tv calling the game for one of the biggest rivalries in sports then I more than sure MLB can assign him some thrilling Pirates, Royals, or Nationals games to do.

Some people don't know when they have it so good.

These games between the Yankees and Red Sox are between two great teams that happen to be fighting for their divison. Thus, they will be throwing their best pitchers and line up at one another. Part of the reason the Yankees have a great offense is the fact that they work the count, take pitches, and don't swing at balls. Yes, this will add to the length of the game but, the textbook way to counteract an ace on his game is to get his pitch count up quickly and work on the bulpen. This Joe West of obvious higher intelligence then the rest of man kind wants to change the way the game has been played for over a hundred years, there is a reason for stepping out of the box frequently at times, it is a way to throw a pitcher off his groove when he is ahead of the count, dispite what this god of an umpire thinks this is not always a random occurence but can be a way to defeat a pitcher. If baseball wants to speed up the game for those of you with a low attention spans and lack of simple intelligence they can cut the time spent on the commercial breaks between innings. For those of you intelligent beings complaining about the length of the games why are you at an event you do not wish to be at, I am sure there are many other places you could be hallucinating at while carrying on a conversation with a dead grandparent.

wow that's pretty ridiculous. he's an ump, he should obviously be aware that games are going to be as long as they have to be. like someone else said before, he doesn't know how good he has it to be able to ump games in such a great rivalry with such great franchises; if he doesn't like the game enough to suck it up and deal with the extra time then i'm sure they can find him a job umping like the nationals/royals or something like that. he should love the game as much as the players do if he's an umpire seeing as that's what he does for the majority of his time. that comment was just way out of line.

It's the greatest rivalry in American Sport!! They should play 12 innings everytime!!!!!

If it were two other teams playing, I wouldnt make it through the 5th..but its Sox-Yankees.

In sports in general, the bigger games (ie playoffs, nationally televised) run longer do to more ads and sideshow crap, and a lot of Sox-Yanks games are on Joe West's network

I blame the pitchers for the extended length of MLB games in general. There is way too much time between pitches in today's game. It seems they don't teach pitchers about establishing a rhythm any more.

While I do agree with the fact that the players could do a little more to try and speed up the game, I certainly believe his remark was way out of line. He said it was "pathetic and a disgrace". It's not pathetic or a disgrace, it's how those two teams play, live with it. Though I do agree they should be encouraged to speed up the game a little bit, but if they want to slow the pace, let them slow the pace.

I like Rivera's comment. "does he have somewhere he needs to get to?". Really, he is a MLB ump, you should love the game just as much as the players and want to go out there everynight. I'll take his spot if he is tired of umping "long" games haaha

I heard the roid suxs payed the umpires to take the heat off them lossing 2 games to the mighty yankees. Pathetic.

absolutly not that fat bum doesnt deserve to even b in the stadium wen either of those 2 are playing. its the best rivalry in baseball, theyre 2 of the best teams, if they play slow thats obviously saying something considering how successful they are.

No, he's a pussy who's too old to be patient. He probably was pissed because he missed the early bird at the Diner. The fact that games are long, makes it more exciting, the suspense, the more time to enjoy the game with your loved ones. Baseball is about family.