Delay ball!
If you’re a Yankees fan, you’ve spent 18 hours of your life so far this season — and will spend maybe four hours more tonight — watching another epic battle with the Red Sox. It’s buy us some peanuts, some crackjacks and a double espresso.
If you think Yankees-Sox games last longer, you’re not imagining things. A Post analysis of the matchups so far this year found that the teams slow to a crawl when playing each other, especially when it comes to one category — players stepping out of the batter’s box after every pitch.
The two teams dawdled their way through nearly four-hour games when they met in April — about an hour longer than the league average. Hitters tightened their batting gloves and dug their cleats into the dirt before stepping into the batter’s box. Robinson Cano called time out to watch a foul ball trail into the stands. Pitchers meandered around the diamond and seemed to think they had all day to make their next delivery.
No wonder ump Joe West called the games a “disgrace” — and they became exhibit No. 1 for the Major League Baseball committee now studying how to speed things up.
Ironically, the shortest game of the first series — a 3-hour, 21 minute game in April — was the only one that went to extra innings!
That’s because the 10-inning game was pitched Red Sox starter John Lackey, who works quickly and was ready to throw as soon as he got the ball back from catcher Victor Martinez.
In his six innings, Lackey spent less than eight minutes on the mound in each frame and left when the game was just an hour and 46 minutes old. Everyone else took their sweet time.
With a stopwatch and some coffee, The Post clocked the “action.” Here’s what we found.
RED SOX
Slowest hitter: DAVID ORTIZ
Longest at bat: 3 minutes, 1 second
Average time at bat: 1 minute, 43 seconds
Against Pettitte, he stepped out of the box 6 times on only 5 pitches.
Pitches seen: 66
Times stepped out of box: 57
Place appearances: 16
Total time at bat: 23 minutes 49 seconds
The Boston designated hitter, who sometimes steps out of the batter’s box more than once per pitch, follows an involved ritual that includes putting his bat under his arm or against his leg so he can spit into his palm, rub his hands together, straighten his helmet and knock imaginary dirt from his cleats.
Fastest hitter: MIKE CAMERON
Average time at bat: 1 minute, 13 seconds
Pitches seen: 45
Times stepped out: 18
Times at bat: 12
Total time at bat: 14 minutes, 51 seconds
Slowest pitcher: JOSH BECKETT
Average inning: 10 minutes, 4 seconds
Pitches thrown: 200 (2 games)
Batters faced: 57
Total time on mound: 104 minutes
Innings pitched: 10
Beckett often walks off the mound toward homeplate between pitches. Friday night, he met catcher Jason Varitek three times in one inning.
Quickest pitcher: JOHN LACKEY
6 minutes, 19 seconds
Pitches thrown: 100
Batters faced: 22
Total time on mound: 38 minutes
Innings pitched: 6
The most aggressive pitcher on either side, rarely walking off the mound between pitches.
Honorable mention: HIDEKI OKAJIMA
In top of the eighth at Fenway Park on April 6, Boston reliever Hideki Okajima walked off the mound 8 times and stepped off the rubber twice while facing just half a dozen Yankees hitters. His wandering ways helped stretch the inning to 41 minutes — a pace for a game of more than 6 hours.
YANKEES
Fastest hitter: MARK TEIXEIRA
Average time at bat: 54 seconds
Pitches seen: 84
Times stepped out: 20
Plate appearances: 25
Total time at bat: 22 minutes, 25 seconds
Slowest hitter: NICK JOHNSON
Longest at bat: 3 minutes, 2 seconds
Johnson, facing Lackey, stepped out of the batter’s box six times in a seven-pitch at-bat.
Average time at bat: 1 minute, 21 seconds
Pitches seen: 69
Times stepped out: 56
Plate appearances: 17
Total time at bat: 22 minutes, 47 seconds
Slowest pitcher: C.C. SABATHIA
9 minutes, 2 seconds
Average inning
Pitches thrown: 193
Batters faced: 43
Total time on mound: 91:42
Innings pitched: 10 (2 games)
C.C. waits . . . and waits . . . on the mound, waiting for a sign he likes.
Quickest pitcher: ANDY PETTITTE
Average inning: 7 minutes, 30 seconds
Time per inning
Pitches thrown: 94
Batters faced: 24
Total time on mound: 45 minutes
Innings pitched: 6
Honorable mention: ROBINSON CANO
The second baseman seems to have an allergy to the batter’s box. He steps out after virtually every pitch and likes to call time out after foul balls. In the seventh inning of Game 2 in Boston this year, he even turned his back to home plate and strolled toward the Yankee dugout. The at-bat took 2 minutes, 37 seconds
LAST NIGHT’S EPIC
3 hours, 56 seconds playing time
Plus: 74 minute rain delay
Commercials: 59 minutes, 25 seconds
Pitches: 343 Pitchers: 12
Injuries: 2
2010 YANKS-SOX (5 GAMES)
Total time (not including rain delay): 17 hours, 51 minutes
Average length: 3 hours, 35 minutes
Average number of pitches per game: 328
Mound trips by manager or coach: 30
Average commercial time per game: 57 minutes
Mid-inning pitching changes: 14
MLB OVERALL
Average length of games in 2009: 2 hours, 52 minutes
Average length of games in 2005: 2 hours, 46 minutes
Average length of games in 1980: 2 hours, 33 minutes
Average number of pitches per game in 2009: 295
Source: Elias Sports Bureau
Additional reporting by David K. Li and James Cahalan.