Call me old-fashioned if you like, but baseball is still a golden game.

The sport has been under heavy attack. It is too slow for today’s youth, not enough action to maintain their interest.

And the games are way too long.

All of that may be true, but baseball remains such a unique game at all levels. You never know what you’re going to see on the diamond.

For example, Butler’s Kyle Weitzel is a first-year starter as a senior. He began his final season by hitting safely in his first six at-bats.

The other day against Seneca Valley, the Golden Tornado bats produced four consecutive singles in an inning — and did not score a run.

Moniteau graduate Lake Pry, making only his second collegiate start on the mound for Grove City College, tossed a no-hitter in that game.

The Cincinnati Reds’ Joey Votto popped out to the first baseman Wednesday night. That was the first time in 6,827 major league plate appearances — covering 1,591 games — he had ever done so.

The Los Angeles Dodgers homered in their 32nd consecutive home game that same night, tying a major league record.

Go to a baseball game at any level on any given day and you never know if you’re going to see someone pitch a perfect game, hit for the cycle, maybe hit three home runs in the same game.

It is the only team sport that doesn’t have a clock, so you’re never quite sure how long a game is going to last ... unless, of course, the field doesn’t have lights.

So is baseball perfect?

Not at all.

The game can be improved, especially at the professional level.

First and foremost, the pace of play definitely needs to speed up. The easiest way to do so is to keep the batter in the batter’s box, the pitcher on the mound and the catcher behind the plate.

After each pitch, the catcher does not have to walk in front of the plate or visit the pitcher for a conversation. That’s what signals are for.

The pitcher doesn’t have to wander around the mound, pick up the rosin bag a couple of times, slam it down, step off the pitching rubber, then back on ... get the throw from the catcher, get the signal, deliver the next pitch.

The batter has to ask for time to step out of the box. The umpire doesn’t have to give him time. The batter doesn’t have to adjust his batting glove or hitch up his pants, rub dirt on his hands after every single pitch.

Stay in the box.

If all three of those elements of the game are done that way, more than 30 minutes would be cut out of game times. Guaranteed.

Major League Baseball should be about more than home runs and strikeouts. There should be bunting, hitting-and-running, stolen bases — like you still see at the high school level.

Big leaguers need to rediscover their youth — in more ways than one.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle