Baseball: Good Hitters Can't Hit Good Pitchers

Take 34 big-league hitters with an average-average of .290 and a total of 373 homers and 1,371 RBls. Split them into two teams, put them in a ballpark that has the shallowest centerfield in the American League, give them wind at their backs, and let them flail away madly for 15 innings. Then try to explain why the final score at last week's annual All-Star game in Anaheim, Calif., was National League 2, American League 1.

In a word, pitching. If the longest game in All-Star history proved anything, it was that good hitters can't hit good pitchers—on a day when...

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