I hate the designated hitter rule. I've always hated it, and the way things are going, I'm going to hate it for life.

The idea behind the DH is simple: Liven and speed up a game by taking out the awkward flailing of the "non-athlete" pitcher. I'm not buying it.

The DH cheapens the game. It pigeonholes not one, but two roster players per game by segregating pitchers and hitters. Pitchers and hitters should be the same thing: baseball players.

Pitchers need to hit. Most of them do it poorly, but that comes with the territory. Hurlers generally just need more batting practice. It's not like pitchers bat .000 all the time. We see them help their own cause time and again with big hits in clutch situations. Carlos Zambrano is downright dangerous as a hitter. Babe Ruth started out as a pitcher with the Red Sox. Jason Marquis and Mike Hampton, two pitchers who have hit over .300 before, can help their teams with more than a mere sacrifice bunt.

Look at Rick Ankiel, my favorite story in baseball today. He was a decent hitter back when he toed the rubber for the Cardinals, but he lost all control on the mound. Instead of abandoning the game, Ankiel decided to get better at what he had missed out on for so many years. He picked up a bat and learned to hit the ball, and amazingly made it back to the majors, again with the Redbirds. If Ankiel could do it, a lot of pitchers could do it.

Some say making pitchers hit will open them up to more injuries. I say fine. Pitchers have become no more than frail bodies attached to big arms. The majors, and especially the American League, need to toughen up. The DH is another excuse to let the one-dimensional players in the league extend their careers.

Speaking of tough, it's easy for a pitcher to throw at an opposing batter if he will never get the chance to face the other pitcher, possibly getting a fastball located precisely between the numbers on the back of his jersey. Toughen up and cowboy up, pitchers.

Don't get me wrong, the Kingdome wouldn't have been the same in the end without the cheers of "Edgar!" Edgar Martinez was a born DH. He studied and practiced hours per day on that one aspect he knew. Hitting a baseball. The result? Twenty years in pro baseball smacking a leatherbound ball with a wooden bat, and smacking it hard. The problem is that Edgar Martinez wasn't a complete player. He was a liability in the field. Anyone who sits the bench for all but three or four chances a game will have trouble commanding my respect. Frank Thomas was great, but I'd rather see a five-tool player get his chance in the field and at the plate than an aging first baseman who can't play first base anymore.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, who has coached in both leagues, may have stated it best. "I think there should be the same rule for both (leagues), and I'd vote for cutting the DH," he said. "I think you see more of the total game (in the NL). There are a lot of parts of the game that are really beautiful that you don't see that often in the AL … a lot of the offensive and defensive things you use to make or stop a single run."

I couldn't agree more.

Jason Scott: 447-4070 or jason.scott@helenair.com