Batting the pitcher 8th

Tony La Russa has done some good things with the Cardinals this year. While he is still iffy with the media, he has loosened up his philosophy against playing young players. But for all the good work Tony La Russa has done with the St Louis Cardinals clubhouse this year, I still cannot justify a few things, the first being his practice of batting the pitcher 8th. It was a funny idea when Mark McGwire played here, but now it just seems ridiculous.

Case in point: yesterday versus the Reds. We have a runner on 2nd base and the seventh batter in the lineup at the plate. The Reds decide to... intentionally walk the batter, thus bringing up the 8th batter, who just happens to be Braden Looper, the pitcher. What does the pitcher do? Swings ZERO times and strikes out, thus ending the inning. We had scored two runs in the inning, but it could have been more.

Someone who watched the game might say that it was good that Brendan Ryan, the 9th batter, batted after the pitcher, because he got a hit to lead off the next inning and scored a run. But that hit would probably have knocked in a run anyway if Ryan had batted ahead of the pitcher in the previous inning!

I maintain my stance that La Russa should not bat the pitcher 8th unless the name of the pitcher is Kip Wells (.340 batting average this season). I am open to anyone who could explain this practice so I could understand.

College football is back...

Minnesota football. We have 6 national championships but now seem to be stuck in mediocrity...

* We suffered the biggest blown comeback in bowl history
* We schedule too many "cream puff" teams. (That should change, though, with the coming of a new stadium.)
* We barely beat Division 1-AA North Dakota State last year, 10-9.
* Sports Illustrated picked us to finish last in the Big Ten.

BUT... at least we haven't LOST to a 1-AA team...