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Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder
While watching the second NPB vs MLB game last night, I came across something that I have noticed a number of times through the season, but which seems odd to me. I wonder if you guys could fill me in.
Bonds' bat snapped in two in his second at-bat, and the Yomuiri TV commentator went mad. "Look at that! Kawakami Kenshin has snapped Barry Bonds' bat in two. What powerful pitching!" and words to that effect. The same thing happened later in the game and it got the same reaction.
Now, snapped bats are common enough, but is it really the pitcher breaking the bats, or is it (as I suspect) just the coincidental combination of the velocity of the ball with the timing and angle of the bat? I mean, if power pitchers really did break bats, surely someone like Igarashi would never get hit, ever. He'd certainly be put on some kind of environmental black-list for the destruction of forests!