Posted by: BHL (Knight1285@aol.com) on Thu May 18 23:17:47 2006

> BHL. I applaud the fact that you are willing to stand your ground on issues you believe in. And on this site as in general it is okay to disagree. I to on occasion have taken exception to Mr. Mankin's unwillingness to answer questions he feels are beneath him. But in the case of advancing the runner, I feel you have not considered that the runners have to be moved in order to win games. And for the player who does not reach the seats consistently, he is doing his team a disservice by trying to pull every pitch especially if the defense is overplaying him to that side. More often than not, that player will hit into a double play, cause the runner to get out in a run down, strike out, or just not get the job done. There is a good reason why most of the teams in the bottom of the standings are where they are. And it is not just that they do not have talent, have too many injuries, or have poor management. It is because they do not know and do not execute fundamental baseball which means taking advantage of the defense when the situation calls for it according to the personell you have to work with.

Hi Hitting Guru,

I agree with Jack Mankin on the first point. If the hitter reaches the fence occassionally, that individual ought to learn how to hone his mechanics so he can accomplish his feat more often. Then, he should improve his stroke even more by pulling all pitches so that he can get more home runs out of his hits (this is my opinion here, not Jack Mankin's). I believe all players, if they take advantage of PFO, can become home run hitters.

But what about the tight game where one run is necessary? I say forget about pushing the ball around, and bunt. This is a much more effective strategy of "giving oneself up" for the sake of his or her teams. Suprisingly, some pure home run hitters (e.g., Dave Kingman) have also mastered the art of bunting. I think the PFO should also be a proficient bunter so, when it comes to advance the runner, he learns to do it properly. In this manner, the aspiring PFO can escape the tyranny of the Social Darwinist and tyrannical hitting classification types, yet still help his team win.

In short, except when a batter is giving himself away (which he should in a close game), batters should pull all pitchers.

thanks for bringing the occassion up, though. It helped me add an "unselfish" side to my PFO model.

Best Wishes,
BHL