Hitting is way down, lowering mound the answer?

MINNEAPOLIS —Ruling with an assortment of big-bending curveballs, sharp sliders and 100 m.p.h. heat, a new generation of pitchers has thrown major league hitters into a huge slump.

The spike in strikeouts, the dip in home runs and worries that the game is becoming boring for fans reminds some people of 1968, when Bob Gibson, Denny McLain and their fellow aces dominated.

Back then, the sport came up with a radical solution: The pitcher’s mound was lowered from 15 inches to 10 and the strike zone was reduced.

Combined with the addition of four expansion teams, the result was an 11-point increase in the big league batting average in 1969 and a 19 per cent rise in runs.

Should baseball drop the mound again?

There’s some thought that reducing the mound would combat the outbreak of blown-out elbows, which has seen stars such as Stephen Strasburg, Matt Harvey and Jose Fernandez needing reconstructive surgery, and could also claim Masahiro Tanaka.

With low-run games again in vogue and defensive shifts taking away hits, there’s been more emphasis on small ball. That’s prompted questions about whether this is a cyclical change, or if this style is here to stay.

From his vantage point in the New York Mets’ broadcast booth, former NL MVP Keith Hernandez has an unusual analysis and an equally drastic solution.

“They should get rid of four teams,” he said. “Too many players. There’s too much dilution of talent. ”

It wasn’t too long ago that batters had the edge. The boom years peaked in 2000 with an average of 1.17 home runs per team per game. The runs average of 5.14 was MLB’s highest since 1936.

And with complete games virtually a relic, hard-throwing relievers dominate the late innings. Radar guns routinely register m.p.h. readings around triple digits.

All that gas has contributed to more than two dozen pitchers needing Tommy John surgery this year.

Dr. David Altchek, the Mets’ top physician, said a lower mound “should decrease the force as the body gets less far ahead of the arm.”

“As the body falls down the mound, the arm momentarily lags and forces at the elbow cumulate,” he said. MINNEAPOLIS — Helping send Derek Jeter out a winner in his last All-Star Game appearance, Mike Trout drove in two runs with a triple and a double to lead the American League past the National League 5-3 Tuesday night.

The Angels outfielder took home MVP honours.

Jeter started his 14th and final midsummer gathering of MLB’s best with a vintage oppositefield double, following an ovation from the Target Field crowd of more than one minute. The Yankees captain went 2 for 2.