I love the history associated with the game of baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 I love the fact that baseball is a structured game.\u00c2\u00a0 I love the fact that baseball has a sense of indefinable strategy.\u00c2\u00a0 I love the fact that baseball is never consistent.\u00c2\u00a0 Baseball is 162 games of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153what will happen today?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 At times, baseball has a mind of its own.\u00c2\u00a0 Players aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t playing the game, but the game is playing the players.\u00c2\u00a0 Above all, I love that baseball is unpredictable until the bottom of the 9th, 2 outs 3-2 count in game 7 of the World Series (even then there is still a margin of error involved, am I correct Red Sox Nation?).<\/p>\n
Overall, I am happy with all the adjustments that have been made to the game since its inception as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Americas Pastime.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m cool with Designated Hitters; I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m ok with lowered pitching mounds.\u00c2\u00a0 I like instant replay for home run calls (but it should stop there), and I am all in favor of the Wild Card position in the playoffs.\u00c2\u00a0 I even think interleague play is fun and educational because you get to see teams that you wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t normally see (still waiting patiently for the Padres to come see me again at the CoPa).\u00c2\u00a0 I do think that the rules for interleague play should be such that the visiting teams’ rules apply during an interleague game, not the home teams’ just so the home town fans can see a different style of play for a little while each year.<\/p>\n
But, I have a beef with organized baseball\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and that beef is the intentional base on balls (IBB). I hate it – a lot! I think the IBB should be eradicated from the game.\u00c2\u00a0 You can feed me all the lines you want about strategy and positioning and advantages and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll tell you its crap.\u00c2\u00a0 The IBB serves one purpose only \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for the pitcher to get around pitching to someone who hits well.\u00c2\u00a0 And basically that is a form of cheating.\u00c2\u00a0 A hitter should not be punished with an IBB (even though it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go against his batting average, but it does count as a plate appearance) just for being exceptional.\u00c2\u00a0 Pitchers should be forced to challenge these good hitters. After all, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of the game!\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The whole point of baseball is to put wood on the ball and a great batter can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do that if his pitches are eight feet outside the strike zone.<\/p>\n
Regardless if whether it is my team or not (Go Tigers!!!) I secretly cheer for the hitter who gets intentionally walked.\u00c2\u00a0 I want that player to come around and touch home, even if they are the winning run – just to serve as a lesson to the pitcher.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like a little form of revenge for legalized cheating.\u00c2\u00a0 Even more so, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m always hoping that the next batter up after the IBB cranks one out of the park as a little \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ha ha \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what you get\u00e2\u20ac\u009d moment to the pitcher.\u00c2\u00a0 In Major League Baseball, any batter is capable of hitting a homerun at any given time on any given night \u00e2\u20ac\u201c unpredictability at its finest.<\/p>\n
But the problem with the IBB is that it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just going against the batter.\u00c2\u00a0 Pitchers should never underestimate the power of a batter. One of the best ways of improving pitching is to pitch to great hitters, and the IBB takes that away from the pitcher.\u00c2\u00a0 By pitching to great hitters and finding out their strengths and weaknesses at the plate, it causes the pitcher to step up his game a little too.\u00c2\u00a0 The pitcher toughs it out and finds out what they need to do to face these tough hitters.\u00c2\u00a0 It improves pitching skills and also commands a high level of perseverance.<\/p>\n
I think that many fans agree with me on the eradication of the IBB\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I have never, ever been to a ball game when the fans did not boo loudly when the cleanup hitter comes to bat and the pitcher and catcher get in position to start the pitchout.\u00c2\u00a0 It kills the momentum of the game and angers many fans at the same time.\u00c2\u00a0 The fans sit with anticipation to see if their favorite power hitter is going to pull that ball out of the park into left field or if they are going to go down swinging\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and they are rewarded for their love and loyalty with an IBB\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 For this very reason alone, the IBB should be another page in baseball\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history book.<\/p>\n
~Shelly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I love the history associated with the game of baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 I love the fact that baseball is a structured game.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":352,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t