Fascists at the Hardball Times!

A wise man once said that strikeouts were boring and fascist, and counseled his young charge that throwing some ground balls was more democratic.

I'm not one to disagree with a demigod, but David Gassko at the Hardball Times isn't:

Some have posited that it might be better for Kazmir to hold back a little
bit, that all his strikeouts result in high pitch counts and fewer innings.But
to every argument there is a counter-argument. On the one hand, yes, the average strikeout requires more pitches than the average ball in-play. But on the other, a strikeout is a guaranteed out; a ball in-play is not. So first we need to ask,
do all those balls in-play actually lower pitch counts?

Read the whole article for an excellent analysis about how strikeouts affect (or don't affect) pitch counts. His conclusions aside, I am quite confident Gassko isn't truly a fascist.