American League Championship Series - Game 4

Sunday, October 12 2003 @ 11:50 AM EDT

Contributed by: robertdudek

New York Yankees (David Wells) at Boston Red Sox (John Burkett), 7:30 ET

Among the thousands of reasons to get rid of the DH, yesterday's game was a good illustration of the better ones. If Pedro Martinez had to hit on a regular basis, would he have thrown a pitch at a batter's head? Conventional wisdom has it that the chances would be reduced. If Roger Clemens had to bat, would Manny Ramirez have taken such exception to a seemingly ordinary high fastball?

Since the introduction of the DH, HBP rates have not differed greatly in the two leagues - in fact, HBP rates have roughly doubled in both leagues. My perception is that there have been more incidents of the nature we saw yesterday in the American League.

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