(Inspired by Buchholz pitching a no-hitter tonight, of course. :D)
Let’s say you’re the batter for the opposing team. There are two outs, and you’re up to bat. Do you in any way “throw” the game and let the pitcher have his perfect game or even just a no hitter? Or do you feel that for him to earn it, he must face each batter with the batter actually trying to get on base? Does it make a difference if (in tonight’s case) you’re losing by ten runs, or maybe just by one run and you still have a decent chance of winning?
Me? Hard to say. While I do feel that the pitcher should legitimately face each batter, I would also feel REALLY bad if I was the guy to rob him of a no-hitter/perfect game. If it was tonight’s case, down by ten runs, no hope to win, with a rookie on the mound, no less, I might jsut let him have his moment in the sun.
If it were a 1-run game, then I’d try to get on base, though. Unless it was an aging pitcher and it was his last season, or something.
Not a chance in hell I “throw” that. If I was a manager and any of my players got out on purpose in that situation, doesn’t matter how many runs, I’d chew them out and then sit them. What’s the point in being out there if you’re not going to play the game. bouv, I don’t want this to sound snarky, but were you ever a competitive athlete?
Also it would completely destroy the accomplishment for the pitcher if he ever found out about it. I would hate a batter that would steal that glory from me by trying to help.
I agree that most professional athletes are so competitive that they would take great pleasure in busting up a no-hitter, (plus, it’s their job) but there have been exceptions.
For example, I recall a game where Brett Favre basically laid down for his buddy Michael Strahan, giving Strahan the record for most sacks in a single season.
Sometimes you play your best when it’s a hopeless game, you go beyond giving up, and then say fuck it, and play the best of your life. You’re the last person in a no hitter - damn right you make that bastard earn it.
The thing about baseball is that the game’s never lost until the final out. Most no hitters are not huge blowouts, and there are lots of examples of teams coming up with last-out rallies. So if you throw the at bat, you’re also throwing the game for your team.
Dave Stieb, the great Blue Jay pitcher of the 1980s, lost something like five or six no hitters in the ninth inning. He once lost two no hitters with two out in the ninth in consecutive games. But that just made it all the sweeter when he finally threw one. I think even he would have felt the accomplishment cheapened had someone deliberately made an out for him (which was definitely not the case; the last out when he did do it was a hard-hit fly ball.)
Did the Red Sox just give up when they were down 0-3 to the Damn Yankees? Hell, no you don’t give it to him! I don’t care if it’s the last game of an outstanding career, and going out with a no-hitter would make hime famous and a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame. Earn it, you bastard. If I got the chance, I’d send a line drive right back at his balls, just to remind him that it’s still a challenge.
Against a pitcher throwing a no-hitter in the ninth? Same as in any other game of the season, the object is to win. So I’m going to try to get on base any way I can, even if that means being slow out of the way of an inside pitch, or laying down a bunt (though I’d only try the bunt if I was sure I had better than an even chance doing it successfully – it would depend on the condition of the baselines between home and third and home and first, and on where the first and third basemen were playing and what sort of fielding position the pitcher’s normal follow-through left him in).
I’ll go further and say that, if the corner infielders are playing deep to give themselves a better chance of making the play on a line drive, then i would have no trouble with trying to bunt for a base hit. Bunting’s a legitimate part of the game, and defenses need to be ready for it.
If you were a bowling pin in the 10th frame, and the bowler was going for a perfect game, would you fall down on purpose or just wobble around and try to stay up?
I would do everything in my power to bust up the no-hitter, including bunting. The object is for my team to win. If it’s a blowout, we need base runners. If it’s close, all the more reason.
It’s something of an embarrassment to get no-hit. If you’re the guy who busts it up, I’d imagine your teammates would be grateful. Screw the other guy (so long as it’s clean baseball, within the rules).
Here’s another for laying down the bunt if possible, unwritten rules be damned. Especially if the score’s within two, and I’d be the winning/tying run on base.
However, I’d be sure to put on some Barry Bonds-style riot gear before batting against his team the next series.
You play to win. IIRC there was an Astros game that went into extra innings. In the 12th the visiting team scored 11 runs. Most of those runs with two out.
Football, with 3 seconds left in a winless game, I may tank a play, but baseball is the true “anything can happen game”
Hey, I look at it from the pitcher’s point of view. A no hitter is a fantastic trophy that I earned with MY team, not YOURS. I don’t want you or anyone else other than my team to diminish that in any way.
You better bring your best effort to the plate or I’ll be looking to use your head for a target the next time I pitch to you.
