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To: tom h

Low pitch counts today are probably due to economics - no one wants a Dusty Baker or Billy Martin overusing pitchers with guaranteed contracts - and today’s medical monitoring that recognizes the arm stress that leads to real damage.

The drawback is that the rare guys who can handle 125 or more pitches per outing might never be known.


37 posted on 05/13/2019 12:07:11 PM PDT by jjotto (Next week, BOOM!, for sure!)
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To: jjotto
I don't disagree. But there is a price to be paid for being too conservative.

There can't be any more pitching heroics, for starters at least. Watching a Koufax or a Gibson waving off his manager after walking the first batter in the 9th, and then gritting his teeth even harder is an act of strength, grit, and determination.

Winning is everything, of course. But so are the stories of endurance and personal achievement. We don't take tired QBs out of tough games either in college or the NFL. Yet, we take star pitchers out after 7 innings even if he has a shutout going.

I don't really want to blame the pitchers themselves, but I do. They should demand that they be allowed to stay in the game. They should take pride in the fact that they won a game that was all theirs. Was it really a win that they earned if they left with a 3-1 lead after 100 pitches and 7 innings, and had their game saved by someone else?

40 posted on 05/13/2019 12:34:59 PM PDT by tom h
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