Trips to mound limited in Arizona experiment

 

NEW YORK (AP) – Teams will be limited to three trips to the mound by managers, coaches and catchers during a game, except for pitching changes, under experimental speed-up rules to be used during the Arizona Fall League.
The pace of game committee established last month by baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced a series of initiatives Wednesday that will be tried in the AFL, which opens Oct. 7 and runs until Nov. 15. The three-trip limit will apply even if a game goes to extra innings.
The average time of nine-inning games in the major leagues was a record 3 hour, 2 minutes this year, up from 2:33 in 1981.