>There really is no excuse for NL pitchers not being able to bunt. No one expects them to be good hitters but they ought to at least be able to do that.
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>Well, most pitchers. Some sports talk guys around here were on a season long campaign for Lou Piniella to bat Carlos Zambrano 8th or even 7th. And they may have been right. But baseball being as tradition bound as it is, that just isn't done. It probably has been a few times but by and large pitchers hit 9th, period.

Dontrelle Willis has batted 8th a number of times, I believe. Also, the Phils played some team this year (the Cards, maybe? Yep, Google confirms it) whose manager was habitually batting pitchers 8th.

Tamar