I hate intentional walks in baseball...

[Garet Jax]

In my mind they are the biggest cop out for a pitcher to make. They give a pitcher or a team the ability to allow the team's best player not to play.

Imagine in football if a team could force the best player off the field for a set of downs. Alright, Montana you sit this one out...

Or in hockey if a team was able to give the other team's best player a penalty. OK, Forsberg that'll be 2 minutes from you...

Or in basketball if a team could make a player sit for the last two minutes. Duncan time to hit the showers...

It is assinine that baseball allows this to happen. Not only does it make for a more boring game, but it is also likely to make for a lower scoring game. I don't see any fan benefit to this rule. Am I missing something?

For the people who ask what the solution is, I am thinking a forced walk or a two base walk for the front player. A forced walk would be that every player gets a base whether or not there is a force. The other suggestion is that the front player gets two bases. That way they will score in all circumstances except if they are on first (when intentional walks happen rarely anyway).

 

[Lifer]

it's part of the game... deal with it.
it can easily be countered by placing your next best hitter behind him, or a pinch hitter.
if he gets it hit, you're burned for more runs. one run is almost always guaranteed, because you'll usually have men on base in scoring position, and even more common with 1st base open (to get force outs). rarely do you see intentional walks on empty bases.
it's all strategy by the managers.

it's NOT the same as taking away your best player in hockey, bball and football. you're not completely sitting him out.
you get penalized for intentional walks if the next batter gets a hit.
the exact equivalent is tossing Bonds from the game when he's due up next.
the better equivalent in bball is double teaming Shaq and letting Horry hit wide open 3's.
taking away the opportunity from the opposing team's best player, and letting someone lesser beat you.
there's a risk to take, and a consequence to pay for by taking that risk.

every game has its quirks.
bball has the foul then FT, foul again, more FT's, etc. towards the end of close games.
football has running the clock down when the opposing team is behind and doens't have any TO's.

what SHOULD be changed is the constant tosses to 1st, and the amount of prep time between pitches because baseball is too long and slow paced and those slow it down even more, making it a more boring game.

 

[Mallow]

I like it when intentional walks come back to haunt pitchers. The other day I saw a guy on second, third and they intentional walk a guy to get to the next guy w/ bat. avg. of .220. The guy homers for a grand slam

 

[Megamorph]

You are obviously clueless about the sport.

 

[nitsuj3580]

Originally posted by: Garet Jax
In my mind they are the biggest cop out for a pitcher to make. They give a pitcher or a team the ability to allow the team's best player not to play.

Imagine in football if a team could force the best player off the field for a set of downs. Alright, Montana you sit this one out...

Or in hockey if a team was able to give the other team's best player a penalty. OK, Forsberg that'll be 2 minutes from you...

Or in basketball if a team could make a player sit for the last two minutes. Duncan time to hit the showers...

It is assinine that baseball allows this to happen. Not only does it make for a more boring game, but it is also likely to make for a lower scoring game. I don't see any fan benefit to this rule. Am I missing something?

For the people who ask what the solution is, I am thinking a forced walk or a two base walk for the front player. A forced walk would be that every player gets a base whether or not there is a force. The other suggestion is that the front player gets two bases. That way they will score in all circumstances except if they are on first (when intentional walks happen rarely anyway).

an intentional is not like any of those things you mentioned.

It maybe disappointing to watch a guy like Bonds get up and get walked but it was also fun last year to watch Santiago in the playoffs come up after him and come through with a hit. It's part of the game and will always be.

Now if you want to talk about why the pitcher has to throw 4 pitches instead of just saying we want to walk the batter, then I'll agree with you there. Yes, there is the slight to none chance the pitcher will throw it past the catcher or the batter will swing at a pitch semi close to the plate but come on now. Just let the guy go to first if you want to walk him and get on with the game.

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: Megamorph
You are obviously clueless about the sport.

 

[spaceman]

often times, batters after an intentional walk see better pitches(strikes).

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: Megamorph
You are obviously clueless about the sport.

Right....

Believe what you want.

You are obviously clueless about how to judge people.

 

[Yossarian]

Wasn't it Arizona that intentionally walked Bonds with the bases loaded? That's respect.

 

[Lifer]

man, nobody commented on how I totally owned him in my post?

 

[Sid59]

Originally posted by: Lifer
man, nobody commented on how I totally owned him in my post?

ok .. you did.


i fail to see, like the others, how an intentional walk equates to sitting down Joe Montana.