ESPNs Buster Olney is on vacation this week, but hes still compiling roundups. View Wednesdays roundup here.Baseball is the greatest game in the world. If you need proof, look no further than the fact that baseball, like no other sport, has an amazing capacity to spark genuine and even heated debate. Baseball fans and media like nothing more than to talk about what is good and bad about the game. The designated hitter rule has been with us since 1973. Forty-three years later, fans regularly and passionately weigh in on whether the rule is good: Should it be expanded or eliminated? I have stacks of fan mail on both sides of the issue, and I can always count on a DH question to energize a news conference.Buster Olney recently co-hosted Mike & Mike with Mike Greenberg, and they devoted the better part of two shows to a discussion of what should be changed in baseball. When they asked me to participate, I gladly accepted. Those of you who listened to the program know that I was not supportive of some of the suggestions put forward but was receptive to many others, such as rule adjustments regarding relievers and alterations to the All-Star Game. I hope I left the impression that I am open-minded to the possibility of making changes to the national pastime.I believe there is a clear distinction between giving thoughtful consideration to an idea and deciding to move forward with it. Its good to have a healthy conversation about baseball and the way it is played today. But that conversation should take place against the backdrop of three fundamental points.First, a major part of baseballs appeal is its history and tradition. While adjustments can be made to protect and improve the game, we must always give due respect to history and tradition. Each July, I go to Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame Induction Weekend. A visit to the great Hall of Fame Museum and the opportunity to spend time with the greatest living legends of our game serve as an annual reminder of the importance of the history and tradition of the game.Second, baseball is a healthy sport. Each year more than 73 million people attend major league games, and another 41 million go to minor league parks. Our in-park experience remains the best in professional sports. MLB.com is widely regarded as the best digital offering in sports. And while we are continuing our efforts to increase youth participation, more kids age 12 and under play baseball and softball than any other sport, and of the estimated 58.1 million children in the U.S. between the ages of 5 and 17, 45 million (78 percent) have played baseball/softball in some form at some point in their lives. While baseball can be improved, it certainly does not need to be fixed.Third, some traditionalists talk about changing the game as if the alternative is to maintain some static, pure form of play. The fact is that the game has changed and is continuing to change -- in my view, at an accelerating rate. Games have become longer. In 1975, the average game was 2 hours and 30 minutes. Now the average game is three hours. In 1988, 272 pitches were thrown in an average game. Today, the strategy of working counts and taking pitches means that it takes an additional 22 pitches to complete that same game. Back in 1988, the average major league club used 17 pitchers over the course of the season. In 2015, the average club used 27 pitchers. We are seeing less of our star starting pitchers, more delays for pitching changes, and less action at exciting points late in the game.Today, major league players are hitting home runs at a record pace, but the number of balls put in play is at a historic low. There have been more strikeouts this season than in any other season in baseball history since 1871. Offensive strategies like situational hitting and stealing bases, which often create exciting moments for fans, are less prevalent today than at any point since the Year of the Pitcher in 1968. These changes have occurred not due to new rules but almost exclusively because of decisions made by creative general managers and managers in an effort to win as many games as possible.So the question is not whether there should be change -- the game is going to change and evolve no matter what. The question is whether to let the change happen or, instead, to manage the change. For me, the answer is easy: Those of us charged with the enormous responsibility of protecting the great game of baseball have an obligation to manage change so that the beauty of our game is preserved in a way that future generations continue to embrace the sport. We will confront difficult choices in discharging this responsibility, and we will make the right choices because our guiding principle will always be the best interests of the fans. Cam Talbot Jersey . Los Angeles star goalie survived those perilous gymnastics with no problem, and he eventually backstopped the Kings to a skid-snapping win. Quick stopped 27 shots in his return from a 24-game injury absence, Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:55 to play, and the Kings snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. 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Pakistanis 359 for 8 dec (Younis 104, Shafiq 80, Masood 62, van Meekeren 3-78) and 140 for 4 (Azhar 50*) lead Somerset 128 (Hildreth 47, Sohail 3-26, Amir 3-36) by 371 runs ScorecardIf there were any doubts about Mohammad Amirs preparedness for a return to Test cricket, he has gone a long way towards dispelling them in Taunton with an incisive spell of top-class swing bowling.Amir claimed three top-order wickets in a performance that demonstrated sharp pace, even sharper movement and impressive control to suggest that, whatever else has happened since the last time we saw him bowl in England, his extravagant skills remain undimmed.Such is notoriety surrounding Amir - his talent as much as his fall from grace - that it might be forgotten that he goes into this tour with much to prove. This was his first first-class game of the year and only his fifth in almost six years. The last time he played at the top level he was just 18. Amir child, if you will. He has questions to answer, to himself as much as anyone, about his stamina, fitness and ability to block out the distractions and overcome the challenges that await.And it is true he may face tougher opposition and more hostile environments than he faced here. At Taunton he was greeted with warm applause when it was announced he was to bowl - it was never likely to be any other way - and then confronted by two top-order batsmen as green as The Quantocks and one who seems to have been around as long as them.But it is doubtful it would have mattered who was at the other end. The delivery that accounted for Marcus Trescothick, a beauty on off stump that demanded a stroke before swinging away late to take the edge of his bat, would have troubled any left-handed batsman in any era. Alastair Cook faces quite a challenge this summer.And while the doubters might suggest a more experienced player than Adam Hose - on first-class debut - might have kept out the ball that brought Amir his next wicket, its worth noting that Hose is only a year younger than Amir. Having played pretty well for half-an-hour, Hose saw Amir go round the wicket and swing one back in sharply to take his off stump. He will never have faced bowing of such quality and he may never again after this match. This was a desperately tough baptism.But the best delivery of the lot was reserved for Peter Trego. Back over the wicket, Amir pitched the ball just outside off stump and persuaded it to swing back, through the gate and send Tregos middle stump cartwheeling. It was, by any standards, beautiful bowling. And, on a benign pitch offering him little, suggested he could prove devastating if England gamble with the sort of surfaces they utilised so effectively against Australia last year.He swung the ball really late, Trescothick said. You get a lot of bowlers who swing it quite early but he was swinging it late. That bit of extra pace is the thing. He hasnt played international cricket for a number of years so theres probably an extra bit of zip that he has that makes him hard work. As it was coming down the pitch you were almost guessing whether it was an inswinger or whether it was one of the straight ones.On that performance, yes, he will cause problems for England.Amirs day had started less happily. His first delivery as a batsman was called as a no-ball, the cue for somewhat awkward laughter on and off the pitch, while the next took his edge on the way to the keeper.But it is not his batting that will decide the Test series. It is Amir detail, if you like. It is his bowling. And on the evidence of this performance, it is in fine shape.He bowled an incredible spell, his team-mate Shan Massod said. We have no doubts aboutt his talent.dddddddddddd Weve seen it before and were seeing it again. He hasnt lost it. If anything, he has just got better.Massod was also keen to point out the ability of the rest of this Pakistan attack. And it is true that Sohail Khan, in particular, impressed with a three-wicket haul of his own. With an action just a little reminiscent of Waqar Younis, he had Tim Rouse - another Somerset debutant - edging one that left him, while Yasir Shah proved too good for the tail. Dominic Bess, the 18-year-old first-class debut, left a straight one that hit his off stump.James Hildreth, undefeated on 47, offered the only meaningful resistance. While he was reprieved on 13, he did show the resolve and technique to justify the locals argument that he should be featuring strongly in national selection meetings at present. The counter argument suggests he is not comfortable against the short ball and has an average artificially boosted by playing his home games on Tauntons batting-friendly surface. But 38 first-class centuries and an average of nearly 45 makes a compelling case. Had he been given a little more support here, he might have made an even stronger one. The fact that no selectors were in evidence does not bode well for him.It all meant Pakistan took a first innings lead of 231. But there was no thought of enforcing the follow-on. This game is about gaining the maximum amount of practice rather than the result. Besides, with Azhar Ali stretching the lead close to 400 by the close, they may well still have time to wrap-up victory on the final day. You might even call it Amir formality.The only cloud on Pakistans horizon concerns the form of their captain. After his second ball duck in the first innings, Misbah-ul-Haq fell for 19 in the second innings and dropped a tough chance off Hildreth in the slips. It is too early to read much into such issues, but Misbah is asking a great deal of himself to negate a skilful England bowling attack on their own surfaces at the age of 42.Perhaps he was a little unfortunate here. He made decent contact on a reverse sweep only to see the slip fielder Trescothick, only two years younger than Misbah, anticipate the stroke, move to his right and take a fine catch.Mohammad Hafeez also delayed his departure just a little too long after he was given out caught behind. It makes no difference whether Hafeez edged the ball or not - replays were inconclusive - as a senior player, he must know there is no benefit in head-shaking, shrugging or complaining. It wasnt by any means a serious incident - and certainly no worse than a few we have seen involving Englands seamers in recent years - but, on a tour that will be scrutinised closely, it was the sort of moment Pakistan could do without.Such is the trepidation in the Pakistan camp about what this tour may bring, they have hired a PR consultant from the world of politics to accompany them and largely protect Amir from the media. But, even if there are those who begrudge Amir his chance to make amends - those who, presumably, have never made a mistake in their lives - there will surely be very few true cricket lovers who can remain hard-hearted in the face of such precious skills. Bowlers so gifted appear rarely; Test cricket can only be enhanced by his return.The vast majority of England spectators will surely recognise both the rare skill and the fact that he has served his punishment. This has been a pleasing few days for Pakistan and for cricket. 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