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Monday, May 21, 2012

I guess I’m confused.

It might just be because I’m an AL fan. Like Pap says…I’m not so good with the smarts. But what is the appeal of having the pitcher bat? It’s not that I’m against it. If the pitcher wants to hit, that’s just fine. I just don’t see the need to protect it like it’s a quality of life thing. Watching a guy strike out or bunt isn’t exactly a key to my happiness.

Even with the weirdness of watching Josh Beckett run, the Sox had a fantastic weekend. They managed to win and tie a series on the road. Can’t ask for much more than that. Everything has been clicking lately. A bad pitching performance, like Bard’s last outing, feels like the exception. When I saw him walking all those hitters, I don’t think, “here we go again.” I was just disappointed. That’s huge.

Now the Sox travel to Baltimore. A series win would be huge here too. And, there’s no reason to think they can’t. After all, the Orioles won’t be in first all season. Might as well start the drop now.

The Sox have done what they hoped to do. They’ve had their struggles. They hung tight through them. Youkilis will be back any day now. No, he’s not the savior that Ellsbury would be. But, he’s better than the bench guys they have at the moment. That’s an improvement to a team that’s playing pretty well. I’ll take it. Assuming, of course, that his attitude doesn’t spiral things down again.

The Sox need a nice finish to the road trip, because the upcoming homestand isn’t a cakewalk.

Let’s bring back Fenway South.

3 comments:

  1. seeing a pitcher bat brings a lot to the game. Ask the Nationals when they won the game from a Strasburg homerun.
    Bunting the runner over, hit and run, double switching, strategy... something sorely lacking from the A.L.
    Every A.L. game is the same. Hire some fat dude who can't play the game anymore to get off his backside and waddle to the plate to bat every three innings is not my idea of a good time. That's beer league softball.
    Baseball used to be a strategy game... get on, move him over, knock him in. Now it's swing for the fences!
    Boring.
    Give me real baseball any day of the week.

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  2. Shoot, right now, the pitchers are the best fricking bats we got in Philly!!!

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  3. It's interesting that both examples of why the pitchers should bat said because they're good hitters. Isn't a DH just a good hitting pitcher's spot? The AL can move a runner along. In fact, you could argue that there's more strategy that way. If a pitcher is up in the third inning with one out and a runner on first, he's bunting. If an AL batter is up in the same situation, you can't be sure what he's doing.

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