Sonoraville swept by Franklin County
♦ Get ready for another season of the most hapless act in sports
Sonoraville baseball was fell in both games of a double header versus Franklin County over the weekend, losing 9-2 and 8-4 at home.
Tanner Folds gets a start for the Phoenix for a double header against Franklin County over the weekend. Sonoraville dropped both games to the Lions. Hayden Holsomback makes a scoop play to keep the ball from getting by and gets the play at first base for the out versus Franklin County over the weekend.
ATLANTA — Get ready for another season — hopefully, the last — of the most hapless act in sports.
Pitchers trying to pass themselves off as hitters.
Pity those like Atlanta phenom Ian Anderson, who’s not exactly looking forward to stepping into the batter’s box for the first time since the 2019 Double-A season, when he went 0 for 15 with 11 strikeouts.
“I think my first at-bat was my hardest hit and it kind of went downhill from that,” Anderson recalled. ”I haven’t hit in quite some time. So don’t expect too much.”
It didn’t have to be this way. Major League Baseball and the players union could have come to a reasonable compromise that allowed the designated hitter in both leagues, as they did during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
But, of course, the two sides managed to botch the talks. Now, the DH isn’t expected to come up again until next winter, when it will be part of the knock-down, drag-out brawl over a new labor agreement.
For National League pitchers, that means it’s back to the batting cage to work on their feeble swings.
“Hitting a round ball with a round bat is already hard enough,” said NL MVP Freddie Freeman. “To give guys a whole year and a half off from doing that — and they’re not good hitters anyway — is going to make it even worse.” His advice?
“Just try to hit the ball,” he said, chuckling, “and if there’s a guy on first, bunt him over. That’s all I’ve got.”
There’s still a slight chance to avoid this farce before opening day, but MLB has no plans to make another offer to the union, so it looks as though the DH will be used only in the American League this season.
Leave it to baseball to go back to a dual, unnecessary system that is totally out of touch with the times and only favored by the handful of pitchers who have some idea what they’re doing with a bat in their hands.
“Guys don’t grow up hitting like they used to,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said Friday. “Pitchers used to be better hitters because they grew up hitting. Nowadays, pitchers don’t even pick up a bat when they’re growing up.”
A season without the DH is just what baseball doesn’t need as it tries to modernize and lure a younger fan base to the game.
“We’ve got to continue to be progressive in MLB,” Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “We’ve got to continue to put a product out there that
people want to see, that has action, and continues to hold our attention.”
That’s increasingly important in today’s increasingly fragmented world, where so many sports fans have turned away from the national pastime.
“In the NFL and NBA, you watch the rules change,” Mattingly says. “You don’t want to change the core of the game. But we have to be open-minded to change to make this a product people want to see.”
Full disclosure: I was long opposed to the DH, or at the very least, comfortable with the idea of having different rules for the two leagues. But watching even a shortened season with the universal DH easily persuaded me that the game is much better off with nine legitimate hitters in the order.
Freeman followed a similar path to DH enlightenment — especially after seeing all the run-producing opportunities he was afforded batting second in a Braves lineup that was stacked from top to bottom.
He finished with 53 RBIs in 60 games.
“I was always that National League guy who thought there’s so many different strategies you can do with the pitcher hitting,” Freeman said. “But every single time I came up last season, it seemed like there were guys on first and second. There are so many more RBI opportunities when you have a real hitter down there in the nine hole.”
Oakland A’s third baseman Matt Chapman scoffed at the NL version of the game. He noted that everyone on his AL team benefits from the lineup versatility the DH provides.
“Pitchers don’t really need to hit anymore, they just need to focus on pitching,”
he said. “It’s nice to have a DH on both sides because it gives guys days off and they can DH instead of take a full day off.”
Besides, baseball’s pipeline has changed so much that it’s no longer reasonable to require pitchers to take a turn at bat.
The DH is used almost exclusively throughout the minors, giving pitchers few chances to hit on their way to the big leagues. Teams certainly don’t want their prized arms to be risking injury by taking a swing, or getting hit by a pitch, or even the rare possibility of being forced to run the bases.
While pitchers have always been viewed as the weakest link in the batting order, there was a time when they weren’t automatic outs.
Hall of Famer Bob Gibson was renowned for his hitting skills, totaling 24 homers over his career and finishing with a respectable batting average of .206 — including a career-best .303 in 124 plate appearances during the 1970 season. He famously homered in his Game 7 victory over the Red Sox in the 1967 World Series.
There are still a few pitchers who enjoy stepping into the batter’s box.
“I always considered myself a pretty good hitter,” San Diego starter Joe Musgrove said. “I don’t see myself as just a pitcher. We get to play once every five days, so when I’m on the field I’m trying to do as much as I can to help the team win.”
By a pitcher’s standards, Musgrove is indeed a decent hitter.
But his career average is still a puny .149, with as many sacrifice bunts as hits (13 apiece) in 102 plate appearances. He’s yet to hit a homer, and has just three RBIs.
There’s a meme currently circulating on social media among equestrians. It’s got a photo of a guy who just oozes “horse guru” — clean cut, crisp polo shirt and hat, freshly groomed horse in the background. He’s facing the camera with tented hands, and the quote says something like, “One doesn’t simply ‘go to the barn real quick.’”
And that, and begin pulling the long, folks, is the story stiff strands out. of my life. The process of hooking At the end of the day after packed dirt out of hooves settling everyone for dinner and painting on a nourishing and then clearing the dishes treatment or picking my away, I’ll often tell my husband way through the mud to check I have to step outside fence lines is oddly calming. “for a minute” to feed horses. Putting a horse back out in the Both he and I know “minute” pasture after covering them in is a massive understatement a warm turnout blanket brings and that I am going to use this me a sense of satisfaction — I time to recharge my batteries. know they will be comfortable
After mixing and pouring and that I’ve done my job well. feed to my impatient charges, I call my daily barn chores my I’ll be pitching hay, refilling “zen garden.” There’s something water troughs, applying hoof reassuring and soothing treatment, addressing any about setting things to rights minor injuries and making in my outdoor workspace just decisions on blanketing options before the day ends. for the night. The whole I caution new horse owners process takes 30 minutes to who choose to keep their an hour, and that variation equines at home that riding usually depends on what kind will be about 10% of the situation. of day I’ve had. If I taught or There have been times rode earlier in the day, it’s a in my life when that fact was cursory visit, and everyone is very frustrating. If you’re trying put to bed inside a half hour. to accomplish a competition If I’ve been inside or on the goal and you can’t ride road for the majority of the very much because you’re performing day, however, I need time to constant stall and pasjust stand and watch horses ture maintenance, it’s easy to swish the dregs of their feed become impatient and chafe around in their buckets and at the bindings that make athome then turn to their hay bales horse life possible.
It’s also easy to look around your property from the back of your horse and realize that if you don’t stay active with upkeep, grass and small trees will begin to reclaim your riding area, barn and pastures.
Over my years of self-care horse ownership, whether I was leasing a barn I needed to maintain or overseeing my own facility, I’ve learned compartmentalization is key. My time for riding grows ever more limited, and I have to prioritize it if it’s going to happen. It’s far too easy to step out to the barn and begin working on something that can probably wait instead of saddling a horse. At this point, I’ve given in to the fact that my saddle time is going to be limited, and I try to maximize what I have by setting aside one hour one morning a week and having a friend instruct me.
This structure allows for several things. First, I am obligated to ride if I know my friend is going to be here waiting for me. Second, it allows me to optimize my time on the horse with good instruction. I believe that no matter how long we’ve been doing something, a little constructive criticism goes a long way. Since I don’t get to practice every day, having eyes on the ground every time I ride helps reinforce good habits. And finally, as stated above, I’ve commandeered the chores as part of my mental health routine.
I tell myself that someday I’ll be able to ride every day again, and I hope I will, but I also hope that I can hang on to the balance that I’ve developed in my mentality toward horse ownership. I have always needed a certain amount of variation in my life to stave off boredom, but at this point, I’m also seeing that the ordinary and routine aspects can bring quite a bit of satisfaction when I embrace them.