After a long weekend birthing class (yup, DCTF Jr. is on the way!) Mrs. DCTF and I went out for dinner on Sunday night.  We chose Ted’s Montana Grill, named for Ted Turner.  On the T.V. was the Sunday night ESPN game featuring Ted Turner’s Atlanta Braves.  It seemed appropriate.

As we were watching the Met’s pitcher came up in a critical situation – 2 runners on, 2 out.  I volunteered that this was exactly the problem with the National League.  The D.H. doesn’t create strategy, it just provides easy outs. 

“How’s that any different than facing Nick Punto?” asked Mrs. DCTF.
“Touche,” I said. And then continued, “Seriously though, even Nick Punto gets hits from time to time. Pitchers, not so much.”
“But some pitchers can hit too. Don’t forget Santana.”
“That’s true, but that’s really part of the problem. Those few pitcher who can hit give their team an almost unfair advantage once every time through the rotation. There is such a disparate level of hitting ability between those who can and can’t that it really affects the outcome of the game in a way that is difficult to control and predict. You put pitchers on your team because they pitch well, not because they hit well. There’s no amount of strategy that can make up for that. Good hitting pitchers become disproportionately valuable, meaning that good pitching is looked at in a different light. Or at least it would be by a GM who knew what they were doing. In the AL a pitcher can be appraised truly on their ability as a pitcher. Not so in the NL.”
I continued on my monologue, “Besides… you’re not really replacing a Nick Punto with a pitcher, since all of these NL teams have their Nick Puntos too. It’s taking Jason Kubel out of the lineup and replacing him with a .100 hitter. That’s huge. And it shortens the bench of the NL teams. They usually just don’t have a DH-caliber hitter, and they have to go to their bullpen more often just to avoid having pitchers bat. There’s a reason AL teams are generally better.”

As I was talking the pitcher came to bat, grounded out, and, to top it all off, managed to hurt himself running to first.
“Oh yeah, there’s that problem too. Pitcher injuries.”
I was about to continue when Mrs. DCTF interrupted me, “Oh look, the food is here. Shut up and eat.”