7 perfect innings

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AArdvark
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7 perfect innings

Post by AArdvark »

And the pitcher gets pulled by the coach.



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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

Not saying I agree with it... especially since Rich Hill is a 36 or 37-year old career journeyman (who turned into one of the best pitchers in baseball a year and a half ago) and this was his one shot at a perfect game.... BUT..... Hill had a number of stints on the disabled list recently. He's had a blister that's kept him from pitching. 86 pitches does seem extremely low, however, and he faced the minimum number of batters.... yeah, I don't get it either.
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Tdarcos
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Post by Tdarcos »

For once this is an issue of sports I can have a comment actually related to the subject.

They discussed almost this very issue in TV Guide many years ago about how coaches routinely use three, four, sometimes five pitchers in a single game.

No, from my own opinion, there are several reasons for this.

First, if a pitcher goes out and you have to replace them, you have to have standby pitchers in warmup waiting for their turn (often TV stations will show this where a second pitcher is visible pitching at nothing in a space near the dugout).

Second, you're paying these guys millions of dollars, and the last thing you want to do is run them so long that you can't use them for another game too soon after the current one because they need time to recover, or worse, they worked too hard and became injured.

Third, for the player, it's bad enough that your main activity after playing a game is soaking your arm in icewater, much worse if it means undergoing painful therapy to recover from a torn rotator cup. Which may not be all that hard to do; my sister had to have surgery for tearing a rotator cup from walking dogs.

Fourth, you play a guy a short period, then replace him with a fresh pitcher who can throw those really hard-to-hit pitches with much less effort because they're less fatigued.

It may be kind of unfair to not give a player the opportunity to do not merely a great job, but a fantastic or perfect one, but fairness doesn't enter into it when you're managing expensive, easily damaged equipment that is worth millions of dollars and has to be treated with extreme care. Which would be the same if you were an orchestra equipment manager protecting multi-million dollar Stradivarious violins or a baseball team manager protecting multi-million dollar salaried players.
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