Have The Playing Rules Changed?

After games like today's, the Tiger approach at the plate makes one think a new playing rule is in force. 

That, late in the game when your team is losing and a new pitcher comes in, you must swing at the first pitch. Don't take a couple, to get a feel for what he's got. Don't make him work. Go up there hacking.  

Royals rookie Aaron Crow replaced Bruce Chen to start the seventh. The middle of the order -- Cabrera, Martinez, and Ryan Strikezone -- went down in order on six pitches. 

Johnny Peralta violated the rule by looking at eight Crow pitches before singling in the eighth. (See how it's done?) Another Royals rookie, Tim Collins, came in. He walked a couple. (See?) Two walks and a single, the best they've done at the plate all day. Bases loaded, game on the line, Magglio up. He swings at Robinson Tejada's first offering and pops up to second.

Sigh ... 

Ryan Scatterarm homered in the ninth for the Tigers' only run. That makes up for the one he allowed, in the first with a bad throw that allowed two runners to take extra bases. Am I counting? Yes, I am.

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More baseball played in the wee small hours of the morning. Blue Jays at Anaheim; the Halos prevailing 5-4 in 14. Winning run touches home plate at 2:10 AM my time. 

The Jays, with two extra Canadian time zones, have the advantage over US teams. For their fans up late in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, it was ten past three in the morning. For any listening on Gameday in Newfoundland-Labrador (1 1-2 hours ahead of EST), it was 3:40. In NL, Friday night's Padres-Dodgers mess ended at 5:33 on Saturday morning.