Banjo hitters are always on the look out for hot bats to get them out of the cellar. What they do not realize is that getting on base at a higher frequency outweighs the over the wall thrill of crushing the baseball.

At the amateur level the playing field was leveled by having bats certified. The figures and ratios for these different levels of certification were designed to protect defensive players.

School teams have one coach who directs all play, offensively and defensively. He usually sits on the bench and gives signals to the first-base and third-base coaches, who in turn pass them on to the batter or base-runner.

The head coach of a team is responsible for planning all the pre-game strategy and the tactics during the game. He makes up the lineup, placing his hitters in the batting positions he believes will bring the most runs.

In Bean Town, even coming off a World Series triumph with another awesome pitching rotation (the second World Series victory in four years after their excruciating drought) there will always be anxiety about what lies ahead in 2008.

Are the Red Sox the favorite again for the new year; and equally - if not more - important, did the Red Sox do more in the off season than the New York Yankees did to maintain their advantage in the constant arms-race? Truth be told, neither of those teams succeeded in landing the most coveted of those arms, pitcher Johan Santana.

The pitcher is well known for his fastball. Your ace hitters are either knocking it foul or whiffing it altogether. There is a secret to beating a hard fastball Pitcher.

Fastball Pitchers are accustomed to having their way at the plate. Very little unravels their poise. They know their job and they know it well. Throw hard and throw strikes.

A team that has players who can throw and catch fly balls and grounders better than its opponents, and can come up with the clutch fielding play, is going to be hard to beat. The team that has the most agile fielders - those players who have fast reflexes and can change direction in a split second - will also have the better fielders. Thus, if the pitching and batting of the two opposing teams are of equal strength, the better fielding team will then be more formidable.

There are several aids which can be helpful in the training of your baseball team.

Sliding Area.

The time to teach sliding is when a boy begins to play baseball. He is closer to the ground and eager to learn. Let the grass grow 6 or 8 inches high in foul territory at the end of a bullpen or outside the outfield fence. This is all the cushion the player needs.

Runners on second and third. The pitch is low and outside and passes the catcher. The scramble is on and the catcher recovers the ball quickly to find the third base runner half way to home plate. Catcher makes a throw to third as runner retreats only to have the ball bounce off the batters bat which is on his shoulder.

The hundred dollar question here is did the batter commit interference? There are several answers to this daunting question.

Red Sox Nation is waiting in anticipation for the 2008 MLB season with the hopes of seeing back to back championships, and their prospects look great. No one knows what the season holds, but we can consider a few important things that give the Red Sox an excellent chance of going to the post season again at the very least. After all, the off season was busy, especially with the entire steroids controversy heating up after the Mitchell report was issued.

In every fantasy baseball league, there's always one guy who makes a surprise pick or two during the draft. He's usually the guy who's done his homework on Fantasy Baseball Sleeper Prospects. He's the guy who reads Fantasy Baseball Dugout.

Fantasy Baseball Dugout is proud to present its 2008 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper Prospects. The criteria for qualifying as a sleeper prospect is that the player was not a regular for the 2007 season and that the season was his first in The Show.

We all know what the Mets got when they acquired Johan Santana this week. They got baseball's best pitcher. And, the Phillies and MVP Jimmy Rollins are now looking up at their arch rivals again regardless of who Jimmy thinks is the team to beat. Johan is now with one of the best teams in MLB; in the Senior Circuit, he now has the ability to face a pitcher every nine at bats.