A day after Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced the league will implement a 20-second pitch clock during spring training games and could possibly institute the clock for the upcoming regular season, Clayton Kershaw said he would ignore the new measure. "I'm not going to pay any attention to it," the Dodgers left-hander said Monday. "And if I go over it then I go over. I'm not going to change anything I do. I'm not going to pay attention to it one bit, and if it becomes a problem I guess I'll have to deal with it then. But I think there's ways to fake it. If it looks like it's winding down or something you can step off. I'm sure there are ways around it. I'm not too worried about it."

Speaking at the end of a quarterly owners meeting, baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday owners had authorized him to implement management's proposal from last offseason, which calls for a 20-second pitch clock, if an agreement cannot be reached with the players' association.

"I know as players that's something that MLB is trying to negotiate," the Washington Nationals ace said Saturday night. "I don't think there's negotiation here. As players, it just shouldn't be in the game. Having a pitch clock, if you have ball-strike implications, that's messing with the fabric of the game.

I didn't notice the pitch clock,

Minor league games averaged 2 hours, 39 minutes in the first three days with a pitch clock, down 20 minutes from the prior average this season. Major League Baseball said Tuesday that the 132 games with a clock averaged 5.11 runs and 15.9 hits, close to the average of 5.13 runs and 16.1 hits for the 335 games without a clock. The pitch clock enforcement began Friday and data with the clock included games through Sunday. Time between pitches during a plate appearance was cut from 21.5 seconds to 19.7 seconds, and time between batters was lowered from 43 seconds to 39.7. As part of the March 10 memorandum of understanding for a new collective bargaining agreement, a committee composed of six management officials, four union representatives and one umpire has the right to make on-field rules changes with 45 days' notice.