The last couple of days have seen hitters starting to take live batting practice from honest-to-goodness pitchers. A lot of this kind of thing is happening:
John Bowker took one in the back Wednesday from Jeremy Affeldt, who naturally blamed the hitter for the whole ugly incident.
“It was a curveball. I told him it was coming,” Affeldt said. “I’m
just working on my hit-by-pitches. I want my walks to go down, so I’ll
just hit a dude.”
And it’s a great way to keep the pitch count down!