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Pitchers using their one last weapon
Posted: Thursday May 04, 2000 07:56 AM
Here is a memo to the hitters of Major League Baseball: When a fastball plunks you in the thigh or the backside, drop your bat and proceed to first base. That's your reward. You've earned it. When another fastball sails perilously close to your chin, making you fall to the ground, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and stand in the batter's box again. That's part of the game. There's no reason to charge the mound -- that's you, Dean Palmer of the Detroit Tigers, setting off that little melee with the Chicago White Sox. There's no reason to whimper and fume -- that's you, you Cleveland Indians, all excited about Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox. The pitcher is just doing his mean little job. Have you noticed the number of home runs being hit these days? Have you noticed who is hitting them? We're off on a record pace again for dingers, dongs and back-back-back backs. The ball is juiced, the strike zone is about the size of a sheet of Xerox paper, the fences in the new parks are as close as the kitchen telephone. Everyone is hitting home runs. Eddie Gaedel, Bill Veeck's legendary midget from a half century ago, would be pumping three-run shots into the upper deck at Coors Field if he were alive today. The pitcher has one last weapon left. The weapon is a fastball heading straight for your body, which creates doubt when he throws the curveball, which heads for your body and then bends over the plate. This is the game, boys. If the ball doesn't come inside, well, the transformation is complete. You're just playing golf. Sports Illustrated senior writer Leigh Montville appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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