Pace of play improvement policy abandoned?

During yesterday's May 2 Yankee game in Boston the announcers had a brief, innocuous discussion of the pace of play policy of the Major Baseball League (MBL).  Ken Singleton casually mentioned that he had read that the league and players association had agreed to not implement the minor fine system that was supposed to have started May 1.  The reason?  Changes had gone so well that it was thought to be unnecessary, that length of games had been reduced by eight minutes.

Hanley Ramirez in Baltimore 4/24/15
by Keith Allison
via Wikimedia Commons

Say what?  Virtually every batter still delays after virtually pitch.  Then the pitchers go into their act.  Hanley Ramirez was adjusting his batting gloves after each pitch yesterday, even if he merely took the pitch.  Batters don't do that during batting practice, nor do they step out of the box.  Why?  Because it's unnecessary and it ruins their rhythm.

Length of game is related but different from pace of play, which is much more important. That's obvious.  And while it's good that games are being completed in less time, is it a big improvement for a Yankee - Red Sox game to go from 3:58 to 3:50?  Who would even notice?

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_releases/intro.jsp

If the league even bothered to issue a press release about it abandoning the matter and declaring victory, I could not find it.  What a mess.  Manfred, the A-Rod Slayer, could not even do this.  What a joke.

Pace of play warning month was not enforced. Now what?  Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Am I the only one who is even more aggravated by dead time between pitches now that reform is supposedly being implemented?  ...

The first month of the regular season was supposed to be a grace period during which umpires would warn batters of violations of new speed up rules.  Has anyone noticed any umpire warn any batter?  I have not.
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May 1: fines begin for pace of game violations. Yeah, right.  Friday, May 1, 2015

Yeah, right.  I'll be looking for David Ortiz to be confronted by the plate umpire in tonight's Yankee game in Boston.  Yeah, right...

Manfred, the A-Rod Slayer, will finally have to enforce something, not just babble about how he'll consider any and all suggestions.  Yeah, right.
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