New York Mets staff ace Max Scherzer still unhappy with MLB’s strict pitch clock enforcement: "We're living and dying by the clock"
New York Mets staff ace Max Scherzer is still griping about MLB's strict adherence to the pitch clock.
Before the fifth inning of a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field, Scherzer and home plate umpire Tripp Gibson got into a heated debate over the implementation and enforcement of the pitch clock.
This time, it had to do with the amount of time that Scherzer had to warm up before pitching to the Phillies in the top of the inning.
Max Scherzer fully explains what happened between innings with his warmup pitches:
"Why do we need a pitch clock for that situation? Why can't the umpire have discretion?...The umpires are frustrated, as we are, that we're living and dying by the clock." https://t.co/i6PtAB9Fms
Max Scherzer's catcher, Francisco Alvarez, made the last out for the New York Mets in the bottom of the fourth. That meant that Alvarez needed extra time to put on his catching gear, which cut into Scherzer's warm-up time.
MLB rules state there is two minutes between innings for local broadcasts, with pitchers allowed eight warmup pitches. However, with Alvarez delayed, Scherzer was not able to get in his allotted eight tosses before Gibson signaled the start of the inning.
Max Scherzer spoke about the incident after the game:
"Why can't the umpires have discretion in that situation to allow eight normal warmup pitches? Why do we have to be so anal about this to have the clock shoved in everybody's face and try to step out every little second that's going into the game?"
Scherzer said that he asked Gibson why he would not be allowed to finish his warm-up, to which the umpire said that MLB would "get mad at him" if he did not strictly adhere to the rules.
MLB has had a clock to limit break time between innings since 2015, but it was not strictly enforced. That gave umpires the ability to bend the rules in certain situations. Apparently, that is all over now.
It's that lack of leeway that has Max Scherzer frustrated, as he said:
"It's situations like this that really are frustrating not only for pitchers, players, but even umpires. That's what Tripp says. Tripp is handcuffed. Why is Tripp handcuffed to not allow something normal, a normal routine. Why can't Tripp make that call?"
Max Scherzer, New York Mets win despite controversy
The lack of warm-ups didn't affect Scherzer too much. He went seven innings for the win, allowing just one earned run on five hits and a walk while striking out nine batters. The New York Mets completed the series sweep of their National League East rival.