NEW YORK -- Wade Miley hears the talk about lifting the bottom of the strike zone in an effort to spark offense and insists there has been too much tinkering already.I dont know why they just cant leave the game alone, the Seattle pitcher said. Cant we just go play and try to get three outs and go from there?Concerned about the drop in offense in recent years, Major League Baseball has studied whether to restore the lower edge of the strike zone from just beneath the kneecap to its pre-1996 level -- at the top of the kneecap. Any change for 2017 would require an agreement with the players association, which is skeptical. Membership is split.I think its kind of outrageous what theyre trying to do with the strike zone, Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Alex Wood said. Obviously, Im biased. Im a pitcher. But at the same time, its shrunk drastically, maybe even in the last five or six years.Baseball people talk about the strike zone the way most discuss the weather: constant complaints about hard-to-fathom change.Wood threw 11.9 percent of his pitches last year at the bottom of the strike zone, according to Fangraphs, which defined the lowest portion as between 1.5 and 1.75 feet off the ground. That was the highest-percentage in the major leagues, just ahead of Minnesotas Kyle Gibson at 11.3 percent and Mileys 11 percent.When the strike zone was last changed, umpires took years to adjust.MLB has used computer software to track umpires strike zones since 2001, which has helped bring the umpiring staff into closer alignment on balls and strikes. Umpires receive a grade now after every game worked behind the plate, and that has resulted in an expansion of the strike zone over much of the past decade.Any adjustment to a new rule-book definition would take time.Theyd have to start in the minor leagues. I think for some of the guys to try to adjust to a new strike zone is going to be chaotic, said umpire Bob Davidson, who worked his first big league game in 1982. I hope they just leave it the way it is. I think we call it now the way the rule book states.Offense has increased this season. Through Thursdays games, the big league batting average is .256, the highest for a first half since 2010, and teams have combined for 2.31 homers per game, the most in the first half since the Steroids Era peak in 2000.But one trend remains constant: strikeouts.Teams combined to average 15.95 strikeouts per game in June, the third-highest month in major league history behind September 2015 (15.96) and April 2016 (16.26), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The last 28 months dating to September 2011 are the highest-strikeout 28 months in big league history.Were at an interesting time in the game, Gibson said. I think they should ask players about strikeouts and how much they care about strikeouts because I dont think its as frowned-upon as it used to be -- because a guy whos striking out a lot is probably also hitting a lot of homers. And if you ask anybody in here if theyll take a 150-strikeout and 30-homer year, theyre going to say, yeah, sign me up.The strike zone has changed many times -- by definition, not just opinion, like Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon calling Laz Diazs zone last weekend amorphic. The top was moved from the armpits to the top of the shoulders ahead of the 1963 season, then lowered before 1969 following a drop in offense. The top was redefined again before the 1968 season to the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants -- where it remains.If the bottom came up, would the top come up, too? said Toronto pitcher R.A. Dickey, the 2012 NL Cy Young Award winner. If they want to introduce an era of better offense, then that would be one way to go, for sure. Because if youre having to elevate balls, thats right into the swing path of most hitters.But just raising the bottom alone likely would result in only a slight change.I think thats a tough pitch for umpires to call already. Not only are they blocked a little bit by the catcher, but the pitches that I throw down there arent straight four-seamers. Theyre sinking down already, Gibson said. I think most of those probably arent called strikes. Theyre probably groundballs or swings and misses or foul balls. ... But, yeah, raising the strike zone for me is going to be a little more difficult, depending on how they call that. But its just like any other rule change. Just like the slide rule at second. Im going to have to make an adjustment and hopefully its not an adjustment that causes me to get hit a whole lot. Cheap Baseball Jerseys Authentic . Terms of the deal were not immediately available. 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These names are cloaked in a powerful aura of words such as dominant, greatness, and legacy. Since solidifying their new roster of Paul Snakebite Duarte, Matthew Royal 2 Fiorante, Bradley Frosty Bergstrom, and TJ Lethul Campbell, Counter Logic Gaming have been knighted with some of these words as well.The road to recognition didnt start smoothly, though. Lethul sent shockwaves throughout the competitive Halo landscape this past January when he decided to leave champion team Evil Geniuses to join persistent runner-ups CLG. His decision was surrounded with doubters questioning whether or not that was the right move. The new rosters first event, X Games Aspen, only fueled those doubts when CLG lost to EG in Game 7 of the Gold Medal match to earn a Silver Medal.CLG would not lose a series again for the next six months.They dominated the North American Regionals, then established their dominance on a global scale at the Halo World Championships. Not only did they make their way to the grand finals with relative ease, but they made a statement by sweeping their opposing finalists, Team Allegiance, 4-0. When many did not think that this team could get any better, it did. CLG went through the entire offseason without dropping a single scrim, and entered the first season of the Halo Championship Series Pro League as clear favorites to win yet again. The season went on as many expected; CLG only dropped one single map in the first three weeks of the season and swept Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, Team Allegiance, Enigma 6, and Cloud9 along the way.Many among the community were making comparisons to some of the great teams in Halo history, and some were going so far as to ask, Will CLG ever lose again?CLGs schedule for Week 4 included a new opponent in Team EnVyUs and a rematch against Enigma 6. nV was on a four-series win streak and was getting into a good rhythm when theyy clashed against the CLG juggernauts, and that momentum showed when they played.ddddddddddddCLG found themselves in a Game 5 scenario for the first time all season and survived the scare. CLG won Game 5, but the cracks in their armor started to show. The next day, CLG went on to play Enigma 6 again and had its first loss of the season.Although CLG bounced back after their loss to E6, their performance was not nearly as dominating as it was at the beginning of the season. CLG has lost nine maps since week 1, and eight of those nine have come since the beginning of week 4. Still, CLG is very likely to successfully defend the legacy they have been building upon for months.Behind the winning record is, of course, a top-notch team. The leader of the defending world champions, Snakebite, started competing at a very young age and has a deep roster with him that seems to understand Halo in a way thats well beyond that of other teams. Snakebite and the rest of CLG have an aggressive playstyle and an emotionless demeanor that overwhelms opponents. Royal 2 has a knack for highlight plays and coming in with the lowest number of deaths on his team by a landslide; he backs these achievements with a team-leading 1.4 KD. Frosty is well known for his deep knowledge of the maps and using it to his advantage, while Lethul is not far behind with a 1.2 KD of his own and leads the team with 451 assists this season. Although fully capable of doing so, CLG does not make their living with flashy highlights and plays. CLG asserts their dominance by having complete methodical control from beginning to end.Counter Logic Gaming takes on the newly acquired Cloud9 roster to kick off their Summer Finals weekend. CLG has a 2-0 record and an overall 6-1 map record against C9. If their previous performances are any indication of how this weekend will go, the question people will be asking will not be Did CLG win? but Who finished second? Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jersyes Cheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '