My least favorite thing about baseball is the intentional walk. Whoever invented it was a sissy, and whoever the Commissioner was at the time should have told him so. For those of you unfamiliar with the intentional walk, here's how it usually goes: You have one or two men on base, a very good hitter at the plate, and a so-so hitter waiting on deck. The pitcher walks the good hitter on purpose, because he'd rather fill the bases and face the so-so hitter than actually pitch to the good hitter who is likely to drive in a run or two (or three). This has always said to me: "I'm sorry, good batter; but I'm not confident enough in my pitching abilities, therefore I'm going to walk you so you don't hit a home run against me." What I do like is when the bases are loaded and the so-so hitter ends up with a base hit, therefore scoring at least one runner, which is what the other team wanted to avoid in the first place by walking the good hitter. (That's when I say "HA-HA!") I don't think they keep statistics of whether walks are intentional or not, but I bet they work way less often than managers think. One of the things I don't like about the intentional walk is how it's done. The batter is in the box, standing at his stance, then the catcher stands up and the pitcher throws 4 pitches to him WAY outside, totally out of any strike zone. If you don't want to mess with a good hitter, throw him low pitches that you know he's not going to hit; don't make it so obvious by having the catcher stand up and catch your four pitches that can't even be hit with a six-foot bat! Don't make it so obvious, because that usually results in getting boo-d (and I'm always one of the "boo-ers").
The reason I mention the intentional walk is that I saw the Cardinals use one in yesterday's game against the Nationals. They preferred to walk veteran Matt Stairs and pitch to Brian Bixler, which loaded the bases. Bixler hit a sacrifice fly to right field, which scored Alex Cora from third. HA! So instead of pitching to Stairs (who could have grounded into a double play), they walked him and gave up a run. Doesn't make sense, does it? Plus, who uses the intentional walk during Spring Training? I know that at this point the managers are running things like if they were playing regular-season games, but for goodness' sake, make your pitchers do their job! Sigh!
Today I get to watch a game between the Cubs and the Rangers. I will root for the Cubs, because they need all the help they can get. I watched a lot of Cubs games as a kid; back when Ryne Sandberg and Andre Dawson played, as well as a guy named Shawon Dunston (I remember him because he wore number 12, which was my favorite number at that time). I remember Don Zimmer as their manager back then, and Harry Caray trying to do the play-by-play. I did stand in front of Wrigley Field once, but the Cubs were not in town. It's one of the ball parks I would love to visit someday, hopefully when they're giving away something free to all the fans in attendance.
Opening day is only 5 days away! Now if only the weather would get a little warmer...
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