I'm watching the Yankees Orioles game on YES. Michael Kay and Ken Singleton are talking about Joba Chamberlain and how good of a HITTER he is. I think SIngleton said, jokingly, that they should let him DH.
It got me to thinking. Lets say Girardi wanted to give the kid a big league at-bat. When would it be ok to do this? Would the opposing manager feel like Girardi was trying to show them up? Last game of the season? Blow out?
Or is it a matter of... Girardi can put whoever he thinks will get the job done.
I don't think it's really showing up the other team if they legit think that he can help them as a hitter. If they are considering giving him some ML ABs at some point as a pinch hitter or something, then they've got to get him into a game to hit, and doing it in a blowout is the best opportunity they have.
I don't think that would be showing up the other team at all. With interleague play and the World Series, a team is better off knowing if a pitcher can hit or not, and the only way to know that for sure is to get them to the plate in a real game and see what happens. Letting him try it out during a blowout win or loss would probably go over just fine and personally I don't think that would be showing up the other team at all.
Yes doctor, I am sick. Sick of those who are spineless. Sick of those who feel self-entitled. Sick of those who are hypocrites. Yes doctor, an army is forming. Yes doctor, there will be a war. Yes doctor, there will be blood.....
god, baseball is TOO concerned with "showing people up." What game was that where the guy bunted to break up a no hitter, only problem was the game was 1-0 or something like that? I mean the dbacks used owings as a pinch hitter this year, right? Dontrelle Willis is a pretty good hitter as well. I don't see how it would be bad, especially since there is a sizeable quotient of people who feel that pitchers should be batting anyway. I agree that knowing if he can do it or not would be good to know in interleague, or should you make it to the World Series.
No different then letting a position player pitch an inning. something that seems to happen every year or two. If anything, the team that is down should be grateful that they get to face a guy with limited plate experiece rather then, in this example, a Giambi/Duncan type hitter.
Last February or so I got to sit in the studio audience when YES filmed the Joba Chamberlain episode of the YESterdays. Joba was all geeked up to hit, and they brought out his old little league coaches who said he could hit. I think Mike Anderson, coach of the Nebraska baseball team, even said Joba could hit OK. But let’s face it – this is the big leagues. We’re not going to see too many Micah Owings-like pitchers, and Joba is certainly no Micah Owings.
Whether you are showing up the other team or not is strictly in the eyes of the opposing pitcher and maybe his manager. Even if that's not what your intention is, you're likely to get your pitcher plunked with a fastball to the noggin. It would be a stupid thing to do.
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by ultrazero » Tue May 27, 2008 8:02 pm 
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