Pitch to Pujols?

Baseball is set up so that you can minimize the effectiveness of certain opposing players by pitching around them. Is it good? Bad? Maybe it depends on your allegiance. I tend to support situational intentional walks (think runners on 2nd and 3rd in a tie game with one out in the bottom of the 9th), while I dislike IBB's issued primarily based on the batter in the box (think pitching team is up 2 in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded and Bonds up ... and he's issued an IBB to force in a run to decrease the lead to 1). That's just one take on it, though ... mine.

Some in the media have suggested that baseball is unlike other sports because you can take the other team's best player out of the game in baseball. Well, that isn't entirely true. Plus, you can do similar things in other sports to minimize key players. If you intentionally walk Pujols every time up, he probably won't compile many RBI's. However, he will always be on base and available to score runs. Additionally, all the RBI opportunities Pujols would have are passed on to the guy hitting behind him. And, as my brother so eloquently pointed out earlier in a conversation on the issue, "he still gets to play defense." And, to steal a line from the same conversation: true that!

So, you can't totally take a player out of the game in baseball. But, the point is well taken. So, what about basketball? Well, ever hear of the box-and-one or the triangle-and-two. Essentially, in the box-and-one, one defender plays man-on-man and the other four play zone. In a triangle-and-two, three play zone while two play man-on-man, either on one or two offensive players. So, you can minimize the effectiveness of certain players with these types of defenses. Also, you can not help off certain players or run a double team at them every time they do get the ball. In a summer camp before my senior year in HS, a kid from out-of-town was getting some hype so when my team played his, I hounded him the entire game, denying him the ball and harrassing him the couple times he did get his hands on it. Turns out, he wasn't all that good, at least not against good defense.

Well, you can't do that in football! Really? You can double team Dwight Freeney or chip him with a back every passing play. You can put 8 or 9 in the box to minimize the effectiveness of a star RB (or a crappy one). You can shade safeties over to a side of a big play WR, or just straight up double team him. You can drop 9 into coverage consistently to try to keep Peyton Manning from picking your secondary apart. I'd transition to hockey, but I think if you're going to catch on, you've already done it, so another example would just be superfluous, much like this recent verbiage. Oh well. Roy can edit it if he wants.

And, so ends Part 1 of this two part (at least) post. Stay tuned for one potential fix and why it is necessary to bring baseball more in-line with the other major sports.