I'm one of those anti-DHers who has a strong suspicion the AL wouldn't be nearly as good a league if they didn't CHEAT so much.
Yeah, I said it. Not batting your pitcher is cheating, and I'll gladly listen to any argument you might have as to why it's not.
(dramatic pause)
That's what I thought.
Having a player whose only job is to hit is insulting to the players who actually PLAY a position, and I can only guess that it's a bit insulting to the designated hitter, too. After all, you're basically telling the guy that you like his bat, but stay the hell away from the field if you don't mind.
Personally, I wouldn't give up any of our pitchers as hitters. Braden Looper is 5 for 14 (.357) this season, Adam Wainwright's 6 for 25 (.240) with a home run, and Joel Piñeiro drove in two with a double at the beginning of May. I do, however, feel like it's unfair to the NL teams whose pitchers aren't as gifted at the plate. (And I really resent the fact that home-field advantage at the World Series is decided by the All-Star Game.) But most of all, I feel like having a DH takes away from the true nature (the INTENDED nature) of the game.
Seriously, if you're going to use a DH, you might as well just have two separate teams like football does--offense and defense--and let everyone specialize. And then go ahead and let them fight over the bat while they try and tag each other with the ball. Think that sounds crazy? Yeah, me too.
