"Losing pitcher"

I hear they stink, yet again.


On the subject, I use the term "losing pitcher" just to see if I can get reactions like this. I've yet to get anything -- which is a good thing.

 

At that point you let them make their point and tell them, tough. If that's the worst thing that happens to the kid, well, that's a pretty good life.

 

Not necessarily true. It could be the best athletes are in track or maybe golf. Some small high schools need everyone and there aren't any cuts.

 

I'm surprised, and appalled, at how many people don't want to hurt the kids.

Give me a break. It's a public event. It happened. These are facts. You're not making stuff up (I hope), so just write it.

If parents get upset, screw 'em. You can't please everyone, and those who are getting upset probably won't be happy even if their son/daughter has a special tab devoted to his/her athletic accomplishments.

 

They're under 18 and playing for free. I'll find something nice to say about the game if I can, and you always can, because for someone to have lost, someone else had to have won. For a pitcher to have given up a run, someone else had to have scored it.

But I'm not going to stretch that so far as to euphamize basic statistics.

 

WFFW.

 

What if we gave everyone ICE CREAM! Would that make it better?

 

Most of the time the parents are the only ones upset abou it.

Except for a few times, the kid could care less and was actually embarassed by the fact that Mom or Dad called.

 

Sounds good to me.

As much as we'd like to include a bunch of snark, that's the last thing we can afford to do with circulations declining the way they have been.

 

I disagree. Return the damn email. It's the professional thing to do. Explain what "losing pitcher" means in terms of the rule book, and leave it at that. If you continue to get emails arguing back, delete THOSE.

But it's not good customer service to ignore an email just because one doesn't like what it says.

 

When our stringers turn in briefs that say "losing effort" or "losing pitcher," I often change it to "took the loss." That softens things, I think especially for high school. Sometimes, it just gets taken out, especially if the pitcher went the distance. Then it's pretty obvious that she/he was the losing pitcher. ...

Jane Doe took the loss, allowing three runs on three hits over two innings of relief.

 

I just say Joe Blow did whatever the hell he did to suffer/take/whatever the loss. In a normal situation.

Now if the kid is locked in a pitcher's duel, you can say Billy Bob Pitcher took the loss despite XXXXXX. I don't think I've ever used so and so was the losing pitcher in a story. It says nothing.