Reese Kaplan -- The Times They Are A-Changing...

I woke up Sunday morning to the sounds and enthusiastic overreactions of my faithful pack of mostly New York area Mets fans going on and on about the first game action in Florida. While I was not partaking in the play-by-play, the infectiousness of their enthusiasm to get an injection of chronic baseball disease was contagious all the way over here literally on the other side of the world.

One game into the preseason it's premature to dig deeply into the positives and negatives that emerged from the game. After all, everyone is a bit rusty not having had human competition for several months and it's expected that some of the fundamentals take a few live games to initiate the muscle memory and proper judgment to feel completely natural.

No, the biggest baseball story that's crept up thus far was not on the field with the Mets but instead on the field between the Braves and the Red Sox in a neck-and-neck last minute ninth inning matchup when Rob Manfred's latest rule change debacle came front and center in the outcome of a game.

If you haven't read up nor seen the video, Cal Conley of the Braves was working on a 3-2 count when the decisive pitch arrived. The umpire signaled and off went Conley to first base on what he was certain was a walk that forced in the go-ahead run.

Uh, not so fast, Cal...

What happened was not a pitch clock violation by the Red Sox hurler for consuming more than the 15 seconds allowed to release a pitch with runners on the bases. It was the other side of the "Let's pointlessly speed up the game" set of rule histrionics in which it was the batter Conley given a strike three for violating the new "Batter must make it into the box within 8 seconds" rule.

Pitchers are penalized with a ball for their violations. Batters are penalized a strike. The count was 3-2 with 2 out in the 9th. Now is it as clear as mud? The game ended on a pitch clock violation called by the umpire and it was the new rule that gave the Red Sox a less-than-well-earned victory.

To say no one was happy is an understatement. The fans booed vociferously. The Braves were prepping a celebration for a comeback victory that was not to be. The Red Sox thought they lost a game over a slow pitch to the plate. It was none of the above.

Now the idea that changes come to the game are not universally despised. The DH was something that lasted 50 years in the American League before the National League came on board. After perhaps a week it wasn't mentioned again.

The putting a runner at second base to start up an extra inning portion of a game was met with derision by fans and ballplayers alike. It is another one of those "end the game sooner" collection of fighting-for-an-audience set of rules that Manfred wants implemented to eliminate the real (and perceived) notion that the game takes too long to play. It is about keeping fans here and bringing new fans to the game more than it is about improving the scores nor preventing injuries.

Spring Training is a new time for umpires just as it is for ballplayers. They will get better with their signal calling with each succeeding game so that there will be less awkwardness when pitch clock violations and batter-in-the-box violations will not catch anyone off guard.

Like they say, the times they are a-changing...but not always for the better.