Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Moral Hazard

Galley Friend S.B. writes, "For the record, I walk the slugger. But I'm also a bad person. I've made that choice, and I'll live with it."

That is a level to which even I will not go. And that's saying something.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

So apparently Rick Reilly will NEVER authorize an intentional walk in pony league? Isn't it always the point of an IBB to get to the next hitter? What if the next guy's not sick, but he hits like Adam Everett? Would that be wrong too?

On the positive side, looks like the kid Romney learned the right lesson, in spite of all those around him that want him coddled.

Anonymous said...

Who set that lineup? You're going to protect your best hitter with the poor sick kid? In a championship game? His coaches set him up for failure.

Anonymous said...

There's no crying in baseball!

(Sniffling, maybe, but outright tears are just wrong.)

Anonymous said...

anonymous has it right...the coaches should have done a better job of the lineup. This is the way things are supposed to be. You teach children to play the game, you teach them right, or you have to reteach them later. This "feel good" business about one hour games, four run max, etc., etc., is what's wrong with kid's sports now. Participation trophies should be banned. This is about teaching them competition, after all, in order to be able to compete, and when you compete, your weaknesses are taken advantage of so you try to work on them, make yourself less weak. Romney got the message, but along with a lot of hate all those parents and such are dishing out, so he will feel resentful, when what he should feel is empowered, because he now realizes it's about what you can do and what you can't do, not about handicapping the weaker ones. That is socialism, everyone is the same, no winners no losers. And it's what is wrong with our kids. They feel deprived when life isn't as fair as everyone has made it while they were kids. Good job, coach, and to heck with the whiners.

Anonymous said...

1. Anon 3:00pm has it right. Who puts their cancer survivor/worst hitter in the lineup immediately after their best hitter?

2. Why didn't they just pitch around the good hitter? Not an intentional walk, but don't give him anything to hit either.

Anonymous said...

Nearly the same thing happened to my intramural softball team in college.

They walked our best hitter, to face the chick at the end of the order, we were down a run, bases loades, and she smacked a seeing eye double to win us the championship.

It makes a better story when you win, but I see nothing wrong with the move of walking the stud, it is within the rules of baseball/softball.

Anonymous said...

I was interested to see the closing line from the Sports Illustrated article:
"By the way, the next morning, Romney woke up and decided to do something about what happened to him.

"I'm going to work on my batting," he told his dad. "Then maybe someday I'll be the one they walk."

Is this not exactly the point of competitive sports? You learn your strengths and weaknesses, and improve where needed. I wonder if his own coaches ever said, "You need to work on your batting"? Probably not--wouldn't be "sensitive." And this is the result.