Baseball style question

Pitchers duel?
Pitcher's duel?
Pitchers' duel?

I'm thinking the first one, since it's a duel b/n two pitchers, but I'm not certain.

 

At least you got "duel" right. I can't believe how many writers I see who use "pitchers dual." I want to slap them.

FWIW, I use the first one.

 

is this under the same theory as girls basketball?

 

Sort of.

Pitchers duel. A duel between pitchers.

They're involved in the duel, not in ownership of it.

 

14-game hit streak.

OR

14-game hitting streak.

If the streak is active, I use hitting. If the streak is over, I use hit.

Thoughts?

 

There are some old-school people I know who would say none of the above. It's not a duel unless someone's going to die at the end. "We don't write like Sportscenter speaks." Kind of has some merit, but mostly just blowing hot air. I'd go with pitchers duel, as well.

 

Duels didn't always result in someone dying. With the inaccuracies of pistols at the time and the fact you had just a few seconds to aim, the likelihood someone would get hit and killed was small. Not that it didn't happen, just didn't happen every time. So, you could have a duel without someone dying.

 

Gotta disagree with this, buck.

It IS their duel. They ARE in ownership of it.

Pitchers' duel.

 

By participating in an event, do you automatically assume ownership of said event? I say no.

Pitchers duel.

You could probably also use "pitching duel." Maybe.

 

I've found the best way to figure these sorts of things out is to substitute something else in their place that makes it easier. For instance, you'd never say "women basketball" instead of "women's basketball" -- it's a plural possessive, so it's "girls' basketball" instead of "girls basketball."

 

True. Andrew Jackson was in a bunch of duels, was shot at least once, and suffered periodically from the effects of that shot for the rest of his life.