Interleague Play has, thus far, been kind to the Yankees. They took two of three from the Mets at home, the Cubs in their place, and won their first game against the Reds in Great American Ballpark. The Yankees, like most American League teams, take advantage of Interleague Play and beat up a bit on National League teams, even in their Senior Circuit counterparts’ homes. I, for one, cannot wait until they are done with this mini-tour of N.L. parks.
While it was certainly nice to see the Cubs–well, mostly Starlin Castro–I couldn’t stand another minute of Wrigley Field stroking. We get it: It’s an old park that features a team that hasn’t had a lot of success over the years. The rooftop seats? Cool. The Ivy? Yeah, awesome. The fact that it’s approximately a billion years old? Sweet! But it seemed like every single inning the YES guys were waxing on how special the place was. That? Annoying. Do a feature before or after the game and call the pitches.
Also annoying? Constantly hearing that the N.L brand of baseball is superior to the A.L. brand because there’s so much “strategy” involving the pitchers, hitting, etc. No. I find it hard to see the strategy in “Hey, pitcher: There’s a guy on first and zero outs. Bunt.” AMAZING. You know what takes real strategy from a pitcher and a manager? Pitching against and game planning for a lineup that includes nine real hitters.
I’m just glad we haven’t seen a double-switch yet. I’m sure that everyone in the booth will explode with excitement. There is nothing thrilling about watching a pitcher flail at a baseball or take three pitches down the middle or bunt. The best part is that the irony was clearly not lost on John Flaherty on Friday. Michael Kay asked him if he liked the N.L. style, pitchers hitting, etc. He said yes, he thought it was exciting. At that very moment, Doug Davis was taking a pitch right down the middle from Freddy Garcia for strike there. Ken Singleton chimed in: “There’s your excitement, John.” A certain beat writer for a certain network that goes by a four letter acronym also suggested over the weekend that A.L. managers don’t like to think and that pitchers aren’t necessarily “players” because they don’t hit every day. I wonder if he said those things aloud in the clubhouse; somehow I doubt that.
Maybe I’m biased because I’ve grown up with the Yankees and American League baseball but…it’s just better. I cannot wait until the Yankees return home to the Bronx and this no-DH silliness can end. Aside from the fact that it’s how the game started, I don’t see why there’s a good reason to keep pitchers hitting. Please, N.L., adopt the designated hitter. I’m begging you.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
7 Responses to Please end, Interleague Play
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
If it;s a choice between ending interleague play and ending Michael Kay’s announcing, I’d go with the latter.
I live in Houston and only rarely get to see the YES network (only when on MLBN), but I too find Kay annoying. I know I might be in a minority, but I loved Phil Rizzuto. And I agree, END inter-league play. I only want to see a NL team in the WS!! We should play more games against our division.
I would also be interested in re-alignment where both teams in the same city are in the same division. Also SF & Oak, and Balt & Wash, etc.
I love Rizzuto, too. Rizzuto, Bill White, and Frank Messer. Great team.
I agree that the NL should adopt the DH. Imagine an NBA in which the Western Conference had the 3 point but not the Eastern Conference. Imagine an NFL where the NFC had field goals but not the AFC. It’s looney to be playing 2 varieties of major league baseball.
Interleague play should begin and end with the All-Star Game and the World Series. Period.
It’s bad enough the Yankee ownership group is forced to subsidize their colleagues who choose not to re-invest their profits in their product on the field. But shuttling our boys all over the country to play an unbalanced schedule just to pad ticket receipts at backwater ballparks where the local fan base and media make Bomber-bashing an art form is truly adding insult to injury.
Thank goodness for all our loyal full-throated expatriates who show up and drown them out.
Hey, maybe the old-time purists would compromise with just skipping the pitcher. Have an eight man batting order, rather the vile DH. I don’t care for sloppy sluggers any more than Adam Dunn or Jorge do. Players Union would take issue, but fuggem.
I’d like to see the leagues unified, so we can have intra-city rivalries, and more compact geographical divisions giving rise to rivalry, and less late night baseball.
Ahmen! The whole thing just reeks of a cheap attempt to keep TV eyeballs on MLB during the U.S. Open and Wimbledon. Novelty at best, one I don’t appreciate or enjoy either(let’s just stop playing our game for 3 weeks each year to play a different one?!?!?!?!). If the Yankees would stop helping sell out all of these unfilled NL stadiums every time they come around, maybe someone would listen to us.