Why "No DH" Sucks (last night)

[Tony-OH]

I'll be the first to admit I'm an extreme proponent of the DH and believe universal DH is the way baseball should go.

Last night was the perfect example as to why NL baseball sucks. 

In the top of the 1st inning, Miami starter Nick Neidert was on the ropes. He had allowed three runs already after walking Galvis on 4 straight pitches, he had runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs and the 8th hitter Sisco at the plate. With Matt Harvey on deck, what does Neidart do to get out of the jam? He hits Sisco with a slider on his foot that he pulled about two feet. The pitch looked like an obvious way to use one pitch to load the bases in order to get to the pitcher.

Harvey then grounds out weakly to the pitcher and the threat is over. 

The walking, pitching around, and hitting of 8th batters to get to the pitchers with two outs is one of worse parts of baseball. 

Every single professional, college and high school leagues allow for the DH.

It's time for Universal DH. I much rather see a Renato Nunez type bat instead of a woeful pitcher.

If baseball is going insist on interleague, it's time to use the same rules and don't go with this crap they are trying in one of the minors leagues where a team can use a DH until the starting pitcher comes out. If they do that then then need to expand the rosters to 28 and allow for more PHers because again, watching a pitcher hit is not fun except for the rare occasion they actually come through.

 

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I'll be the first to admit I'm an extreme proponent of the DH and believe universal DH is the way baseball should go.

Last night was the perfect example as to why NL baseball sucks. 

In the top of the 1st inning, Miami starter Nick Neidert was on the ropes. He had allowed three runs already after walking Galvis on 4 straight pitches, he had runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs and the 8th hitter Sisco at the plate. With Matt Harvey on deck, what does Neidart do to get out of the jam? He hits Sisco with a slider on his foot that he pulled about two feet. The pitch looked like an obvious way to use one pitch to load the bases in order to get to the pitcher.

Harvey then grounds out weakly to the pitcher and the threat is over. 

The walking, pitching around, and hitting of 8th batters to get to the pitchers with two outs is one of worse parts of baseball. 

Every single professional, college and high school leagues allow for the DH.

It's time for Universal DH. I much rather see a Renato Nunez type bat instead of a woeful pitcher.

If baseball is going insist on interleague, it's time to use the same rules and don't go with this crap they are trying in one of the minors leagues where a team can use a DH until the starting pitcher comes out. If they do that then then need to expand the rosters to 28 and allow for more PHers because again, watching a pitcher hit is not fun except for the rare occasion they actually come through.

 

Couldn't you just give him an IBB without throwing any pitches?

[Sports Guy]

But the strategy!!!!!  Lol

 

Pitchers hitting is so terrible.

[Moose Milligan]

Tony, I agree with your overall premise but I don't think Neidert intentionally plunked Sisco with that pitch.  With the new intentional walk rule, he'd just have to signal that he'd want to put Sisco on base and that'd be it.

But yeah, last night I felt like we could have tacked on more runs in the first inning if Harvey wasn't batting.

[Aristotelian]

If you are trying to hit a guy I don't think you use a slider. Agree he was probably pitching around him. 

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, Sports Guy said:

But the strategy!!!!!  Lol

 

Pitchers hitting is so terrible.

People that like watching pitchers hit get their minds blown when you explain that there's just as much strategy involved with a DH.  

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Aristotelian said:

If you are trying to hit a guy I don't think you use a slider. Agree he was probably pitching around him. 

I think pitchers just enjoy hitting Sisco with pitches.

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

People that like watching pitchers hit get their minds blown when you explain that there's just as much strategy involved with a DH. 

There’s probably more but yea, they have this belief that you need to be a master in the theory of relativity to understand the strategy of NL baseball.

[scOtt]

Just now, Tony-OH said:

It's time for Universal DH. I much rather see a Renato Nunez type bat instead of a woeful pitcher.

I'd rather see Chris Davis bat than a pitcher.

Not kidding.

[Sports Guy]

The idea that you get excited when your pitcher actually gets a hit tells me everything I need to know

[foxfield]

6 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The idea that you get excited when your pitcher actually gets a hit tells me everything I need to know

Well, I got pretty excited when my pitcher hit a grand slam in the World Series!  Or course it was a couple of years ago.

https://www.mlb.com/video/mcnally-s-grand-slam-c28315259

[Beef Supreme]

 

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

People that like watching pitchers hit get their minds blown when you explain that there's just as much strategy involved with a DH.  

It has been argues that there is far more strategy to be considered when using the DH because so many moves are automatic when pitchers are in the batting order.

[jamalshw]

1 hour ago, scOtt said:

I'd rather see Chris Davis bat than a pitcher.

Not kidding.

This one is borderline for me. Which pitcher are we talking about? I think I'd rather see Bumgarner, Carpenter, or Greinke hit. I'd rather watch Colon hit for the entertainment value, but compared to your run of the mill, everyday pitcher, it's probably a slight edge to Davis and I'd rather not watch Davis hit ever again so I guess that says something about how I feel about pitchers hitting. 

Personally, though, I would like to be able to designated the pitcher as the DH (and thus being two positions rather than forgoing the DH to allow the P to hit). It's a rare use case, but wouldn't mind enabling the Ohtani (and any other player that is two-way...if any exist ever again) to do both in a game but not hindering the team for doing it by making relievers hit since a DH is waved. This way Ohtani is the P and the DH, when he's removed from the game as a P, he can still hit (or another player can come in as the DH without losing the DH spot). 

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, jamalshw said:

This one is borderline for me. Which pitcher are we talking about? I think I'd rather see Bumgarner, Carpenter, or Greinke hit. I'd rather watch Colon hit for the entertainment value, but compared to your run of the mill, everyday pitcher, it's probably a slight edge to Davis and I'd rather not watch Davis hit ever again so I guess that says something about how I feel about pitchers hitting. 

Personally, though, I would like to be able to designated the pitcher as the DH (and thus being two positions rather than forgoing the DH to allow the P to hit). It's a rare use case, but wouldn't mind enabling the Ohtani (and any other player that is two-way...if any exist ever again) to do both in a game but not hindering the team for doing it by making relievers hit since a DH is waved. This way Ohtani is the P and the DH, when he's removed from the game as a P, he can still hit (or another player can come in as the DH without losing the DH spot). 

Brendan McKay is a thing, but he hasn't played this season. 

[HowAboutThat]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

I'll be the first to admit I'm an extreme proponent of the DH and believe universal DH is the way baseball should go.

Last night was the perfect example as to why NL baseball sucks. 

In the top of the 1st inning, Miami starter Nick Neidert was on the ropes. He had allowed three runs already after walking Galvis on 4 straight pitches, he had runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs and the 8th hitter Sisco at the plate. With Matt Harvey on deck, what does Neidart do to get out of the jam? He hits Sisco with a slider on his foot that he pulled about two feet. The pitch looked like an obvious way to use one pitch to load the bases in order to get to the pitcher.

Harvey then grounds out weakly to the pitcher and the threat is over. 

The walking, pitching around, and hitting of 8th batters to get to the pitchers with two outs is one of worse parts of baseball. 

Every single professional, college and high school leagues allow for the DH.

It's time for Universal DH. I much rather see a Renato Nunez type bat instead of a woeful pitcher.

If baseball is going insist on interleague, it's time to use the same rules and don't go with this crap they are trying in one of the minors leagues where a team can use a DH until the starting pitcher comes out. If they do that then then need to expand the rosters to 28 and allow for more PHers because again, watching a pitcher hit is not fun except for the rare occasion they actually come through.

 

Nah what the strategy adds is worth what bad pitchers hitting subtracts.

But it is an old argument, and one either likes it or one doesn’t.