Sunday, June 22, 2008

Ambidextrous Pitcher vs. Switch Hitter....Who Wins?

One of the strangest things ever in baseball took place Thursday night in the Single A baseball game between Staten Island Yankees and the Brooklyn Cyclones. Yankees pitcher Pat Venditte is a rarity...he can pitch with both his left and right hand. Usually that gives him the advantage, but with one out to go in the 9th inning, Venditte met his kryptonite...a switch hitter.

As is the case in baseball, the pitcher loves to pitch against a hitter of the same type (lefty vs lefty, righty vs righty). Well, both Venditte and the switch hitter Ralph Henriquez knew this, so they had a mind game. First the batter stepped in as a righty, then the pitcher adjusted, then the batter went lefty, so the pitcher followed. This unspoken dialogue went back and forth until finally the umpires recognized the eternal argument taking place between Venditte and Henriquez and thus ruled that the batter had to choose first. So he did and needless to say the pitcher Venditte went on to strike him out.

A perfect Coyote-Roadrunner moment that will be shown for years to come.


The short video highlight from Fox News:



The longer unedited version from the game broadcast (I recommend being patient and watching this one):


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