2. Designated hitter or pitcher hits his own?

Although I am a big Red Sox fan, and love few things more that a Red Sox-Yankees game, I have to admit despising the DH rule. The whole strategy of baseball, the game if you will, revolves around making decisions about wheter to leave the pitcher in or to put in a pinch hitter and let the bullpen pitch from there.

Imagine it's the sixth inning, and despite terrific pitching from your starter, you trail 1-0. Your team is up, and you have a man on first and second, one out, and the pitcher is due up. He's thrown maybe 75 pitches so far, still should have some game left. As the manager, do you put in a pinch hitter and try to win the game right now, or do you keep the defense strong and sacrifice an out so as not to allow any future runs? What if it were eighth inning and two outs?

It is this kind of strategy that makes baseball the interesting game that it is, and leads to the brain-boiling suspense of the most memorable games.

In contrast, the DH rule reduces the game to a home-run derby, with puffed-up steroid addicts hitting for the bleachers on every pitch, and the approximate strategy of a game to tic-tac-toe.

I once heard it said that "I'd rather watch a batter bat than a manager think." So, generally, would I, but I've at least got the ADD somewhat under control.