Jamie Nye: Passing on America’s pastime

Zack Greinke of the Arizona Diamondbacks did two things this weekend.

He proved why baseball is dying and why it needs a pitch clock.

Greinke took two minutes 11 seconds between pitches at one point. It led to two delays for time, a mound visit and boredom from all watching.

Spectators are leaving baseball and many of them appear to be moving to a much faster-paced basketball. Yes, the last three minutes of basketball can drag on, but don’t ignore how quick they are to get there.

But two minutes between pitches? That should come with a fine, a balk to advance a runner or just put the batter on first base automatically.

Baseball purists gag at the thought of a pitch clock, and there is discussion as well that the onus also has to be on the batter to get set.

Speeding up baseball is a necessity. And baseball purists can thank Zack Greinke when pitch clocks are adopted.

That’s unless Commissioner Robert Manfred completely has his head buried in the sand, ignoring that America is passing on America’s pastime.