[Magdalen] World Serious

[Jim Guthrie]

> I really hate the DH, though.
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA

Well, with or without the DH, the game has changed considerably. The DH was 
adopted in a time when pitchers, unless they simply were having a terrible day, 
were usually there for 9 innings, except for the strategic choice of inserting a 
hitter for the pitcher.

But nowadays, the controlling consideration of a pitcher is pitch count. 
pitchers just get yanked at 100 pitches, whether it be in the fourth inning or 
eighth inning.  This is just as true in the National League as the American 
League -- the idea of puling the pitcher for a hitter in certain situations has 
become quite rare in the NL, as compared to the systems of 50 years ago.

I'd challenge anyone here denouncing the DH rule in the AL to offer full 
disclosure: How many games per year have you attended during the past 20 years? 
How many regular-season games have you actually watched on TV or listened to on 
radio -- start to finish, during the past 20 years?

Heck,how many of you are aware that another feature of the modern game is to put 
even slightly injured players on the disabled list immediately and calling up 
promising rookies from the Minors to replace them for a game or three?  Out 
Scranton Railriders  won their division this year, but got wiped out in the 
playoffs because the parent Yankee organization had called up 5 of the best 
players to help them try to win the division?

Like I  say, I don’t think that the antipathy toward the DH rule reflects the 
views of anyone who actually follows the game.

Cheers,
Jim

PS Albert really hates it when I sit down to watch a game on TV, as he simply 
hates baseball, period. I tell him for every hour he has EWTN on, he gets an 
hour of baseball. He's resigned to it.