From Last Night:

• Hamels twirls a gem against the Nats
• CC goes the distance, but Shields and the Royals hold off the Yanks
• Josh Johnson has a good day, but the Tribe shut out his Jays
• Machado homers, but the Rangers beat the O’s 8-4

What I’m Watching Today:

• Jacob Turner takes the hill (1230p Eastern)
• Wheeler and Cain (330p Eastern)
• Gio and Lee from the left side (7p Eastern)
• Miller faces the Astros, strikeout warning in effect (8p Eastern)

The Big Question:

• How much should we care about pitcher-hitting?

Dave Cameron threw out some tweets today regarding the (false) perception that the Pirates can’t hit citing that they are 11th in MLB in non-pitcher wRC+. However, their pitchers are comically and historically bad, as Jeff Sullivan noted earlier this year. So while the Pirates non-pitchers are almost in the top 3rd in wRC+, they fall off a bit when you add in their pitchers and are in the bottom third in runs scored. PNC is a pitchers park, but not in an extreme way. All told, it got me thinking. We don’t really think of pitchers as part of the offense, but they get 2-3 PA a game and can have a meaningful impact on the outcome of a game. I think it might be time to either add the DH to the NL or start seriously considering how much a team can benefit from pitchers who are good at hitting. We tend to brush it off, but might their be something to paying attention to how well a pitcher can hit? I don’t know, but it got me thinking.