[oldbill]

and stop pitch counts.

Worst offenders - the Yankees.
Their sluggers will take strikes down the middle on the first and second pitches, get behind, the look foolish striking out on breaking balls low and outside.

But they sure drive up the pitch count - and lose.

Imagine if they actually started swinging at the fastball strikes right down the middle on the first pitch!

The Red Sox swing at the pitch they want. They get hits, and hits, and hits.
That’s why they’re in the World Series, and the Yankees aren’t.

[Alberta's Child]

I never liked Wade Boggs but I had to admit he was a great addition to the Yankees in the mid-1990s before their World Series run. That team had a bunch of methodical, disciplined hitters who really knew how to work a count.

Don Mattingly was one of my favorite ballplayers of all time. He rarely ever swung at a first pitch -- but on the rare occasion that he did, he always seemed to make good contact. He'd later say he approached his time at bat with the idea that he'd sit on a specific pitch early in the count and only swing if he got HIS pitch.