Opening Day Photos Around Baseball

[Scrat1]

Watching pitchers bat is excruciating. It's MLB's equivalent of open mic night. May as well give a randomly selected fan a shot.

[OrangeJerseys]

For the record I agree with Redbird. I like pitchers having to bat and managers working the bench.

[Migrant Redbird]

Watching pitchers bat is excruciating.

You're missing some of the most exciting plays in baseball.

In 2008, I attended a game where the Nationals hosted the Cardinals. As I drove to the stadium, I was listening to the first game of the double header, which had been rained out the day before.

in game 1 Todd Wellemeyer was cruising through 6, shutting out the Nats. I was shocked when La Russa took him out of the game. (Wellemeyer had a sore elbow, which I didn't learn until the next day.)

I was even more shocked when La Russa used 5 relief pitchers to preserve the 2-0 lead, eventually winning 4-1, despite planning to start a rookie, Mike Parisi, in the nightcap.

At game 2, I was seated next to a disabled Korean War vet and we struck up a conversation. He seemed surprised at how low an opinion I had of La Russa.

Parisi quickly got behind and the Cards were trailing 1-7 when he came to bat in the 4th inning with 2 out and 2 runners on base. I pointed out to my disabled vet how La Russa had boxed himself in and was more or less forced to let Parisi bat to get another inning from him, despite it being an obvious pinch hit situation. Imagine our surprise when Parisi doubled in the 2 runners! The vet thought it hilarious how La Russa had "proven" me wrong.

Parisi pitched the bottom of the 4th, giving back 1 of the runs he drove in, then was relieved by Mark Worrell to open the bottom of the 5th. Worrell gave up a single and then eliminated the runner on a DP.

In the top of the 6th, trailing 3-8, with 2 out and 2 runners on, Worrell's spot was due up. Although Worrell had never had a plate appearance in his professional career up to that point, La Russa left him in the game anyhow.

Worrell hit a HR in his very first professional at bat, bringing the Cards to within 2 runs of the Nats. The disabled vet next to me practically fell out of his wheelchair, he was laughing so hard.

The Cards scored 2 runs in the top of the 9th to send the game into extra innings. In the top of the 10th, Joe Mather hit a solo run to give the Cards the lead. La Russa called upon Ryan Franklin for his second save of the day. Franklin wasn't up to pitching another game that day. The first Nat batter singled and Elijah Dukes hit a walkoff HR.

It's difficult to recall a greater thrill at any game I've attended than seeing Worrell hit that 3-run homer. You American League fans don't have a clue what you're missing. Watching a pitcher make an out is no more frustrating than watching a good field/no hit middle infielder do the same. Watching a pitcher help himself with the bat is as thrilling as it gets.

A week ago, when reporters were talking to Adam Wainwright about his contract extension, the goal he cited for 2013 was not the CYA (he finished 3rd in 2009 an 2nd in 2010), but the Silver Slugger. article

Post-Dispatch:

One of the first things you said this spring was that you had high hopes and were making big promises that you were going to win ...

Adam Wainwright:

The Silver Slugger.

PD:

The swing felt that good coming into spring that you knew this is the year?

AW:

I hadn?t swung a bat. You shoot high. That?s what I?m doing. I came close a couple of times. But there was an outfielder named Micah Owings who was a pitcher at the time. He was a good pitcher, but a great hitter. That was my best chance (in 2007), when he won. I hit .290 with a home run and a bunch (six) of RBIs. I was feeling pretty proud until I looked at his stats and he had (a .333) average with four home runs.

One of the greatest pitchers of all time was Babe Ruth. In today's game, where most of the minor leagues no longer allow pitchers to hit, Ruth may well have remained a pitcher his entire career. He might still have made it into the HOF, but he would never have been the legend he is now.

And for those who think the Babe's hitting prowess was so overwhelming that he'd have been converted to an outfielder anyhow, you're forgetting how good a pitcher he was. Lots of great hitting amateur pitchers get shunted into the pitching track once they get to pro ball. If they're in an NL organization, they may still get a chance to demonstrate their hitting talents, but pitchers in AL organizations may as well forget it.

[OrangeJerseys]

For the record I agree with Redbird. I like pitchers having to bat and managers working the bench.

I also think inter-league play year round is awful. Should be two series against your geographical rival, home and away. That's it. Part of the allure of the World Series when I was a kid was the unknown NL team.

[Scrat1]

When I watch the manager constantly pulling pitchers and shuffling guys in and out and, of course, the pitcher sleepwalking through another at-bat, I hear

. Pitchers batting made sense back in the day when pitchers went 8 or 9 innings regularly, but now it always just strikes me as gimmicky and a little embarrassing.

[PaulFolk]

You're missing some of the most exciting plays in baseball.

In 2008, I attended a game where the Nationals hosted the Cardinals. As I drove to the stadium, I was listening to the first game of the double header, which had been rained out the day before.

in game 1 Todd Wellemeyer was cruising through 6, shutting out the Nats. I was shocked when La Russa took him out of the game. (Wellemeyer had a sore elbow, which I didn't learn until the next day.)

I was even more shocked when La Russa used 5 relief pitchers to preserve the 2-0 lead, eventually winning 4-1, despite planning to start a rookie, Mike Parisi, in the nightcap...

See, I think this anecdote works against your argument. The fact that you have to go back 5 years to think of anything significant happening with a pitcher batting kind of proves that it's almost always a ridiculous display of futility. You talk about this incident in much the same way that an O's fan would talk about Chris Davis's pitching appearance last year. It was a hoot when it happened, but that doesn't mean we will -- or should -- see position players taking the mound on an everyday basis.

Pitchers should not bat. It's an embarrassment. The fact that one interesting thing happens every 5 years doesn't change this fact.