Question About My Throttle Cable???

I have a 1988 Ford Ranger with a 2.9L V6 engine. One of my friends and I was looking at my truck today and we noticed that if you press the gas pedal by hand the pedal has maybe an inch or 2 of play before the throttle cable under the hood moves. Is this why my truck takes longer to get up to speed? My truck has a 5 speed w/ overdrive manual transmission. I pretty much have to push the gas pedal to the floor to get up enought speed to shift gears. Is the play in my gas pedal the reason I have to floor it? If it is then how do I fix it?