The National League is the only league left anywhere that pitchers still bat.  While I'm of a younger generation, I still consider myself a big time historical baseball aficionado.  And I can see both sides of the argument, strategy and purity and tradition vs. offense and entertainment, I get it.  That being said its really stupid and boring to watch pitchers bat.

I say this coming from the perspective of a Yankees fan, American League baseball fan and as someone who has known nothing but the DH in the AL growing up.  And to that #### Steve Phillips (are the Seattle Mariners going to rally back and make the playoffs this year Stevie?) over at ESPN who talks about the "tradition of the game," I've got news for you.

If baseball stuck to tradition Chien-Ming Wang wouldn't never gotten hurt running the bases.  Know how I know how?  Because if baseball stuck to tradition and never installed inter-league play, American and National League teams wouldn't meet until the World Series in October and hence Wang never would've been running the bases because the Yankees wouldn't have been playing in Houston, but maybe in Arlington you know against a team in their own league who they've still yet to play this season! 

Does this come off a bit as sour grapes?  Sure.  Could Wang have gotten hurt as easily running sprints in the outfield warming up?  Possibly.  Say what you will of how fluky the injury was or how asinine it is that anybody would come up lame like that just simply running the bases, but the point is Wang should've never been on the bases to begin with.

I've voiced my opinion in previous posts about my feelings on instant replay and the wild card and while NL owners stick with the pitcher batting for financial reasons, I have no use for it as a fan.

Nobody wants to see a pitcher bat in the All-Star Game, but it can still happen in an NL park.  Sure it makes things interesting in the 6th or 7th inning strategy wise, but in the 3rd or 4th inning with runners at the corners and two outs, nobody in their right minds wants to see the pitcher come up to the plate.  One could even argue that in a close game in the AL, the manager of the team with the lead has to make more of a decision strategically.  Do I leave my starter in to face the power hitting DH or do I go to my pen, or do I go to my pen because there's basically no easy automatic outs in the lineup.  In the NL if I'm a manager with the lead and the pitcher comes up, there's no way my starter is coming out, so I sit there and say ok go strike 'em out kid! 

If you enjoyed watching Billy Crystal batting in Spring Training, then knock yourself out, because like him most pitchers are an automatic out, but the sad thing is these guys aren't 60 years old either.

Well at least the Yankees won't be getting swept by the Rays.  The Yanks used some "Asian Persuasion" to turn away the Rays on Sunday afternoon, winning 2-0. 

It was vitrually the same formula the Yankees used on Opening Night against Toronto, pitching, defense and timely hitting.  Ok so there wasn't a ton of timely hitting, but as I've said before, what a difference it is to have a healthy Chien-Ming Wang along with Joba Chamberlain, two cogs they didn't have this time around last season.

Wang set the tone against Tampa, having held the Rays hitless through 4/1/3.  Additionally, Wang who improved to 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA, threw six innings of scoreless ball striking out six along the way.  Is anyone worried about Wang now?

In the bottom half of the 4th, Hideki Matsui continued his handling of Rays pitching by smacking a two-run homer to right, driving in A-Rod who had doubled.  The hot hitting Matsui batted in the five hole for the injured (suprise!) Jason Giambi, and went 3-4 raising his early season average to .350. 

When Wang got in trouble, Manager Joe Girardi called on Joba Chamberlain to keep Tampa at bay.  In the 7th Chamberlain after striking out Willy Aybar, with runners at the corners got Shawn Riggans to line out to Robinson Cano who then doubled off Eric Hinske at first on a nice scoop by Wilson Betemit to end the frame. 

After Chamberlain worked a perfect 8th, Mariano Rivera kept his excellent start going by striking out two and closing out the Rays for his 3rd save of the season, the Yankees 3rd win of the season.

Bomber Bites: If calling Chien-Ming our ace is Wang, then I don't want to be Jaret Wright.

Ok so let's be honest here, when did you have Jason Giambi getting injured in your office pool? 

So Alex Rodriguez is praying for young Alexa Rodriguez who was attacked by a hawk at Fenway Park eh?  Too bad she didn't pray for Dave Winfield!

Phil Hughes to me would be a much better option than Roger Clemens.  Didn't the Yankees learn from their dealings with Unit and ####?  How much worse could Hughes do than Rocket?  Even if the Yankees made Hughes their 5th starter and limited him to a pitch count of 85 or so and he gave them 5-6 innings, in my mind it would be a younger, cheaper just as effictive solution to their pitching staff.  What more is a 45 year old Clemens going to do other than come back to the American League and give the Yankees essentially what Randy Johnson did and maybe worse and get paid a gazillion dollars to be a five inning pitcher with a 5.00 ERA?  This is a perfect spot for Hughes, he'll have less pressure as the 5th starter, they'll be able to groove him into the rotation at a steady pace and he'll undoubtadely infuse some youth and energy into the staff, just as his rotation-mates did once upon a time in Andy Pettitte and Chien-Ming Wang.