Fewer Intentional Walks, Please!

[darthmoridin]

I'm sorry but never in real life would a team in the 9th inning intentionally walk a .182 hitter with 2 outs to get to the pitcher's spot (who wouldn't be hitting here anyway. Especially with a fireballing reliever in there. Especially since the preivous batter had been pitched to and struck out. If anything, the K would have been intentionally walked to get to the .182 hitting number 8 batter. This was the second time this guy was intentionally walked in the game.

I see far too many intentional passes given out (I run a National League team) over the course of a season. I understand walking a guy to get to the pitcher's spot, but not late in the game when the relievers are in and the pitcher is never going to bat anyway. Give us some relief here!

Addendum:
Also, too many times a starting pitcher is lifted too early. I had a 17-6 pitcher pinch hit for in the bottom of the 5th with 2 on and 2 outs when he had GIVEN UP ONLY 1 RUN THROUGH 5 and a total of 5 baserunners. The reliever came in and promptly allowed the other team to tie and then take the lead. How is it that this kind of stuff is done so often, yet a starting pitcher will get into the 8th inning in a tight game and start giving up runs and not be relieved until the lead is gone?

[dturkenk]

I also think there's too many sacrifice bunts. I've seen numerous innings where teams will sacrifice bunt twice - which sort of defeats the purpose of the sac bunt. Of course, the opposing team intentionally walks the next batter - so it almost balances out.

[arbuckle543]

Not only too many sac bunts, but the players who lay them down. I had a game where Sammy Sosa layed down a sac bunt! That lead to an intentional walk to my next batter, Adam Dunn. The next guy then grounded into a DP ending the inning.