Taking pride in ignorance

I'm not sure that there's a much more obnoxious trait than taking pride in ignorance, but there was a piece in the Cincinnati Enquirer yesterday that make one wonder if Paul Daugherty was serious or just tweaking. In any event, the noise coming from Dusty Baker makes me glad that I'm a fan of the Red Sox and not the Reds...

The other day, the Reds manager decided he wanted Joey Votto and Adam Dunn to swing their bats more. "I don't like called third strikes," Baker said.

Can we get an Amen?

It always amuses when fans defend heart-of-the-order hitters by pointing to their on-base percentage. Wow, look at all those walks.

Unless they're intentional walks, or the big boppers are being pitched around, walks aren't what you want from players hitting third through sixth. You want them up there smart-hacking.

As Baker said: "(Votto) needs to swing more. I'd like to see him more aggressive."

Even when I was 12 years old and playing on a 1-15 little league team, we understood that walks were a good thing. Maybe someday Paul Daugherty and Dusty Baker will be 12, and they'll understand it, too...