Laying it Down | Clearly, Shallow Center's deputy South Jersey correspondent, known colloquially as Mom, is a woman at the forefront of public opinion. Several days after she gnashed her teeth at the prospect of a team having to teach multimillionaires how to bunt, Baseball Musings' David Pinto and new Phillies blogger John Yuda (welcome to the Show, John) express dismay at a report on the Phillies' Web site that coach Milt Thompson is sharing his bunting expertise with the staff.

From Pinto this morning:

I'm not a big proponent of the bunt in general, but it is the one offensive contribution pitchers can make. Why is this issue just being addressed now? Clearly, if pitchers weren't good at laying down bunts, something should have been done in the middle of last season. It shouldn't be that difficult to teach a professional ballplayer how to bunt.

And this from Yuda, also this a.m.:

I have no problem with pitchers sacrificing their outs, they generally aren't good hitters to begin with, and they were terrible at it last season.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to ask Mom what lottery numbers I should play tonight.