Hooray for the DH!!

The BBQ Pit
1

Well I cannot think of anything I could say that will bring down more, thick and juicy venom of some of the Dopers, but…

Thank God for the DH! I know all you pursits out there are going to talk about strategy this and sanctity of the sport that and so on, but the bottom line is NOTHING is more offensive to my baseball sensibilites than having to watch the likes of Randy Johnson bat…in a professional baseball game…in the playoffs! This is absolutely ridiculous, nothing is worse than having competition brought down by it’s weakest element. And I know there are pitchers who can hit, exceptions to the rule. Most pitchers get up there and swing like the kid who was always afraid of getting hit by the ball even though it was eight feet away from him. And in terms of strategy, it just is not an issue 95% of the time. And does it not matter that often it takes the bat out of the hands of the number eight hitter? So essentially you are even further watering down the competion. And the sanctity of the game? I don’t hear folks getting all weepy about the fact that pitchers only play every fourth or fifth day…or that some only pitch an inning or two. The truth is pitchers are specialists, much more so than any other positon on the field and to pretend otherwise is a joke. Ptichers simply are not the same as other players.

OK, let’s hear it. I can take it…heathen, blasphemer, call me what you will, I can take it, because I am right! And I know there are closest DH fans out there…now is the time to stand for what is right!

2

Not me.

Go away, and leave us our baseball alone.

Besides, why shouldn’t weak hitting infielders (I’m looking at you, Rey Ordonez!) be substituted for?

Gah.

3

Oh, the pain! Atleast it gave Lenny Harris a chance to become the all time pinch hit leader.

4

Strategy, schmategy, you blaspheming heathen. Here is what it comes down to. BASEBALL IS FUN! ALL OF IT! ESPECIALLY BATTING!!! That’s why the TEAMS take turns on the offense. From this it follows, as the night the day, that BATTING is a PRIVILEGE!!!

!

The privilege is earned by playing defense. Those who do not play defense are not entitled to repeatedly do the MOST FUN THING OF ALL in a baseball game.

And the lights in Wrigley Wield are ABOMINATIONS. If Fred Phelps was REALLY a man of God, he’d forget all about homosexuals and stand around at the corner of Clark and Addison with a huge sign proclaiming the Deity’s hatred for Cub’s home games after dark.

sigh

It doesn’t matter, anyway. Ever since the O’Malleys sold their club to the Antichrist, the entire sport has lost all meaning for me. After all, I certainly can’t root for the Antichrist’s team, and I spent thirty-some years hating all of the other ones. I’m not willing to throw all of that emotional investment down the toilet.

So, go ahead. Have your FUCKING LIGHTS at Wrigley. Keep your FUCKING PISSANT AMERICAN LEAGUE LAZY-ASS “I-don’t-have-to-do-the-sweaty-and-boring-stuff-that-might-make-my-uniform-dirty.-I-get-to-just-BAT-and-BAT-and-BAT-all-day-long-if-I-want-to” DESIG-FELCHING-NATED FUCKING HITTER. 'Cause I just don’t care anymore.

Oh, and Tretiak you owe me a three-day supply of my blood pressure medication, because you brought this up.

:stuck_out_tongue:

G_d damnit. I just re-read your OP, and this time I caught the part about pitchers being specialists, and not the same as their teammates.

NOW HEAR THIS!!! BASEBALL IS INHERENTLY BETTER THAN FOOTBALL PRECISELY BECAUSE ALL OF THE PLAYERS ARE ABLE, AND ARE EXPECTED TO PLAY BOTH OFFENSE AND DEFENSE! AND BECAUSE THEY PLAY EVERY DAY!

Well, any way, it WAS, until the Antichrist was allowed to render it unclean. Now, it just doesn’t matter anymore, just like football. And basketball. And hockey. And boxing, and stock car racing and monster truck rallying, and roller derby, and World Federated Wrestling, and…

Wait a minute, did I say World Federated Wrestling doesn’t matter? How wrong that is…

IT’S THE TOOL OF THE DEVIL!!! IT’S A PLOT, SENT BY THE FORCES OF DARKNESS TO A WEARY AND VULNERABLE WORLD! IT MUST BE STOPPED!!! WE MUST…

Huh? Out of time? Oh. Okay.

5

Tretiak, you insensitive clod.
Everyone gets a turn. It’s called playing nice.

6

tretiak, you ignorant slut. it says it right there in the rules: if you leave the game, you cant come back in. thats the bottom line.

and anyway, there cant be too many fans out there that think that what baseball needs is more offense, what with the ball flying out of the yard every time you turn around and all.

i live to see roger clemens with a bat in his hands…

7

You mean the American league is not playing by the rules??? BTW, what page was that?

8

[sarcasm]
Right. Who needs strategy? Who wants to sit and think about what would happen if you tried to steal 2nd base and then could maybe get the guy to 3rd on a bunt? And the double switch is just too confusing, huh? Too many varibles to think about? Naw, fuck strategy and thinking and having a plan to win. Let’s just sit back and mindlessly wait for that 3-run homer.

Who wants to sit through a two hour long pither’s duel when we can see a three and a half hour long slugfest? Pitcher’s duel are too nerve-wracking with their close scores and the possibility of the other team putting together a rally in the 9th to win. Too much tension. Gives me an ulcer. If I want suspense, I’ll rent a Hitchcock movie.
[/sarcasm]

I’m a purist. I used to play 2nd base and I’ll be the first to admit I wasn’t a great hitter. But DAMN I was great on defense. And that’s why I played every day (except those two weeks after I took a line drive to the ribs. Note to any young ball players: When they say keep your eye on the ball, keep your fricking eyes on the ball regardless of how big the tits are on that girl at the front of the bleachers.) I had to earn my spot in the lineup by playing on the field. If I couldn’t play, I didn’t bat. If someone batted in my spot, that meant I was out of the game. End of story.

As for pitchers being specialists? Bullshit. There are guys on teams known as “defensive specialists.” You know where they play? On the bench, unless their glove is needed in the field during tight games. And if the defensive specialist goes in a game, they get to bat in the place of whoever goes out of the game. Pitchers should be no exception, I don’t care how much of a specialist they are.

The only positive thing I have to say about the DH is that it helps differentiate between the two major leagues. If there was no difference, what would really be the point in having two leagues (except for the obvious money-making scheme that is the playoffs and World Series)?

9

I fail to see what any of these points have to do with the DH. Three and a half hour slugfests? Gosh, we certainly don’t see any of those in the National League, where home runs are a dime a dozen and a man just had the third 60-homer season in four years in which he didn’t even lead the league in homers.

Strategy? How does the DH prevent you from using the bunt, the hit-and-run, or even a double switch? The presence of a pitcher in the lineup hardly adds to strategy. “Strategy,” to me, is more than just the automatic “if there’s guys on base make the pitcher bunt” move. It’s not strategy when everyone does the same thing.

Unfortunately, the dimwits who run baseball don’t seem to understand this, and continue to blur the distinction between the two leagues.

10

Thank RickJay for reminding of the fallacy of the strategy component of the DH. Not only is there the automatic “have the pitcher bunt Strategy”, there is also the walk the number eight hitter (walk the number eight hitter!) to get to the pitcher. These are not strategic decisions anymore than puning on fourth down on your own twenty is a strategic decision, these are no brainers which remove the strategy of actually trying to pitch to a guy. Pitcehrs are specialists and are unique. I could understand just doing away with the pitcher hitting and just have ieght guys hitting if folks are opposed to guys who just hit. But I see no convinving argument why pitchers shoudl be forced to hit.

11

I’d always wondered what the term was for standing around scratching your nuts and waiting for something to happen. So, it’s “defense”, is it? Well, in football they play defense, too. They just do it on the bench.

12

The problem with adopting an eight-man lineup, aside from taking away the symmetry of nine men in a lineup matching up with nine innings, three outs an inning, etc., is that you would effectively raise a regular player’s at-bats by 11.1%, thereby invalidating a comparison between statistics now and before the change.