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From: mcal@ihuxb.UUCP (Mike Clifford)
Newsgroups: net.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Why can't the NL hit?
Message-ID: <1081@ihuxb.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 1-Jul-85 11:00:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxb.1081
Posted: Mon Jul  1 11:00:44 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 2-Jul-85 05:27:38 EDT
References: <302@bdmrrr.UUCP> <177@SCIRTP.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 21

> > Why can't the National League hit this year?
> > I heard Tim McCarver (Mets broadcaster) say that the National League hitters
> > in general were not taking pitches  -- swinging at bad balls.  I can believe
> > that but why are American Leaguers more patient?  Does the DH have something
> > to do with this?  Is National League pitching better than American League
> > pitching?
> > 'CPUHOG' Gates
> Assuming that AL hitting is, in fact, better than NL hitting this season...
>I've noticed that the outside of the plate seems to have gotten wider in the NL
> This doesn't seem to be true in the AL, however.  Has anyone else noticed this
>I've heard announcers talk about such differences in the AL and NL strike zones
> Could this account for the hitting difference?  Maybe NL hitters can't afford
> to be as choosey as AL hitters?
> -- Ned Robie

During an NBC Game of the Week (maybe 3 weeks ago) featuring the Cubs, Tony
Kubek voiced his opinion that he thought the NL plate was getting wider,
that the umpires were calling alot of wide pitches "strikes".  And as Kubek
is speaking, Dutch Rennert (I believe) called two pitches that looked off
the plate as strikes.
Mike Clifford