Gloat Free Baseball Scores (Wednesday, May 9)

[Jack Rabbit]

Baseball Scores

Reds 2, Brewers 1
Cubs 1, Atlanta 0
Rockies 6, Padres 2
Mets 10. Phillies 6
Pirates 4, Nationals 2
Miami 5, Houston 3 (12 innings)
Cardinals 7, Arizona 2
Dodgers 6, Giants 2

Other Scores

Blue Jays 5, A's 2
Rays 4, Yankees 1
Texas - Orioles, ppd. rain
White Sox 8, Cleveland 1
Royals 4, Red Sox 3
Angels 6. Twins 2
Mariners 2, Tigers 1

[Auggie]

1. I see PITCHER Tim Lincecum had a HIT and an RBI

[Jack Rabbit]

2. Opposition to the DH, of course, is not about the pitchers who can hit

Since Lincecum usually can't, it isn't about the few times that a pitcher actually gets his bat in the way of the ball.

It is about what to do when the pitcher is due up in a critical situation. In the middle innings, he would probably be told to bunt or, with first base open and a runner at second, see if he can hit the ball to to the right side of the infield. In the later innings with his team behind, he's lifted for a pinch hitter.

The last argument I saw on a thread about the virtues and vices of the DH rule was basically a long, windy screed over several posts that boiled down to pitchers nowadays are too much of an "investment" to waste their time taking batting practice in order to become "decent" hitters, therefore baseball "needs" the DH. In other words, the author of that argument said, perhaps with some justification, that baseball needs the DH because before the DH a pitcher was a poor hitter, but now that there is a DH he can't hit at all. To put it down to its its most basic form, baseball needs the DH because it has the DH, which has simply made the problem of poor hitting pitchers worse.

If I had something wrong with me that kept getting worse, I'd see a doctor about it. He would recommend that I have surgery to remove the problem. That is exactly how the problem of the DH should be handled.

[El Supremo]

3. So far this year:

Pitchers are batting .120
All players are batting .249
DHs are batting .263

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/batting/split/77

Don't tell me this is not a good reason to have the DH.
Strategy to avoid a bad situation (pitchers batting) is not strategy. It's just having to cover a bad contingency.

[Jack Rabbit]

4. That is not a good reason to have the DH

Happy?

Strike the line about the DHs' batting average and that is about what that stats were before 1973. So what has the DH done for baseball, other than take strategy out of the game?

Strategy is often about avoiding a bad situation. What is strategy? You ask that of a chess player. Good move! It is a plan to achieve a desirable goal, in this case scoring a run when the opportunity presents itself. In baseball, the pitcher may be asked to bunt or hit the ball to the right side in order to move the runners. Or, if runs are needed immediately or in bunches, the pitcher is lifted for a pinch hitter. In DH ball, on the other hand, there's no strategy at all. The strategic situation has simply been removed, making it a less interesting game.

Strike three. You're out.

[El Supremo]

5. What is strategy?

A partial list of strategic decisions:

Setting up the starting lineup (probably the most important decision)
Giving the steal sign
Having a batter bunt when it is not expected (unlike a pitcher batting)
Putting in a lefty pitcher if the next batter(s) is right handed (no matter if the pitcher is going to hit next inning)
A squeeze play
A pick-off play
Putting in a pinch hitter because he hits well against this pitcher
Walking a batter to create a force-out situation and/or get to a poorer batter
And on...

None of these decisions have anything to do with having to contend with a pitcher's batting screwing up a rally. A substitution for the pitcher is llike getting a flu shot - a preventative measure, not a maneuver.

And since when do pitchers know how to bunt? I need to find the stats on that.

[Jack Rabbit]

7. You conveniently omitted pinch hitting for a lesser hitter

Which can even be done in the American League for any relatively light hitting player in a situation where runs are needed. The pitcher isn't the only light hitter in the line up. A slick fielding shortstop who bats .230 or .240 with a half dozen homers per season may also be removed for a pinch hitter in a critical situation where run scoring opportunities are present.

Many pitchers know how to bunt. It's a way they can help their own cause and it's easier to learn than power hitting when one doesn't have the tools to do it.

You are, sir, greatly exaggerating a typical pitcher's lack of skill at the plate. Just as not every pitcher is Babe Ruth (he was a pitcher and a damned good one, remember?) not every pitcher is Ron Herbel, who came up with the Giants in the mid-sixties and had a lifetime batting average in eight seasons of .029 (6-for-206, 2 doubles (wow!) and 3 RBIs).

Hitting for the pitcher is very much a strategic decision. Batting for the pitcher means that the pitcher is removed from the game. Did you American League fans forget that? It is not a decision to be taken as lightly as you make it out to be.

[El Supremo]

9. There are lies, damned lies and statistics.

My statistics beat your lies!

[Jack Rabbit]

10. I'll take that as "to be continued . . . "

I'm going to watch something more interesting and exciting than DH-ball.

[El Supremo]

6. Batting average is not a fair comparison.

Since most pitchers would rather walk and not even have to swing the bat, on base percentage would be a better comparison. So what is that so far?

All players - .316
Pitchers - .153
DHs - .334

Oh well, nevermind!

[Jack Rabbit]

8. Keep digging a hole for yourself, my good man

Let's see, when this bill of goods was sold to baseball by snake oil salesmen like Charlie Finley, it was to add more offense to the game. However, when we measure offense by runs scored, the most obvious offensive category, we see that the DH added little and you say its not about runs. Batting average? No better. On base percentage, now? Were the overall stats much different in 1972?

The only thing the DH did was remove a strategic element from the game. That's doing something to baseball, not for it.