IMO, it's fine to swing at the first couple pitches provided you make decent contact. Murton smoked that ball in fair ground on the second pitch he saw (an inside fastball no less). I'm not sure what more you can ask. That late in the game, you don't need to worry about wearing down the pitcher. Murton hit a HR on the first pitch the other day. Was that a bad AB b/c he didn't take a few pitches? Cedeno swung at the first pitch and poped out weakly to 2B. That was a great AB? Why is anyone defending that? ...oh, b/c it's Cedeno, one of our precious young uns. Who cares about Neifi? He's not in the game b/c of his bat. A regular starter, like Murton and Cedeno have higher standards to live up to. I don't see how that is in any way unfair. So you are saying that it's okay for the Cubs to miss the playoffs every year because they are the Lovable Losers and they're expected to lose but if the Yankees miss the playoffs all hell should break loose because they are expected to make the playoffs? Wait...what? He's saying he had higher expectations for Cedeno than Perez. We all know Perez is gonna stink up the joint, thats what he does. Thats all. Its not "OK", but when you come to expect it, it hurts a little less.