I guess it depends on the two pitchers on the mound.

Classic Petey vs. Santana and I’m taking the pitchers’ duel.

Jarrod Washburn vs. Kyle Davies? Give me home runs and lots of them.

There’s nothing subtle or nuanced about watching two mediocre pitchers lucking into a pitchers’ duel by virtue of a team’s off-day at the plate or the defense behind the pitcher.

I’ve been to a few hundred Rangers games. Sitting in 100 degree heat watching longballs gets old pretty quick.

something like dan haren vs ricky nolasco

it doesn’t get any better than that

When I see a pitchers’ duel, I’m focused on the excellence of two men, which is exhibited by the struggles of all the hitters. In a home run derby, I just think the pitching sucks and they’re playing softball.

definitely

I saw DeNiro once on Letterman. Letterm,an asked him if he had seen David Wells’ perfect game (may have been Cone’s, I forget).

DeNiro asks “What’s that?” Letterman explains no hits, no walks, no one gets to first base.

DeNiro says. “No nothing? That sounds boring.”

So I guess despite Bang the Drum Slowly he isn’t much of a baseball fan. Or he was putting Dave on.

A 15-14 game can be a lot of fun to watch. On the other hand, a 20-10 game would be duller than watching paint dry for me. A slugfest, provided it is competitive, can be entertaining.

If the slugfest is the result of errors, walks, passed balls and beer league quality pitching, that is just god awful painful to have to watch.

A pitcher’s duel can be fantastic, but if both teams have combined for 5 errors and 13 walks, that’s not very compelling. However, I could watch a 7-0 game and enjoy it, if one pitcher was just playing out of his mind and dominating.

I would say that it’s probably more about a close game vs. a blowout. Yeah, I can see the appeal of a 1-0 game but also a 10-9 slugfest is great to see too. Whether the great performances come from the mound or the batters box, greatness is fun to watch.

I love baseball but I’d like to leave the stadium in under 4 hours if at all possible.

I want to see them get lots of hits and runs, and some home runs as well while my pitcher is at least solid. But if it is simply baseball and I have no particular rooting interest, I want to see a well played game which means excellent pitching and defense to me. 1-0 in extra innings, assuming it is due to good play, is a perfect game to me. Or if there is a mix, say 4-3 with a couple of clutch hits making the difference in a game the pitchers throw well, that is also good.

If I’m at the game: home run derby
If I’m watching the game on TV where I can see every pitch with the right angle: definitely definitely pitcher’s duel.

So much more tension, so much more strategy. One tiny thing could swing the game either way. In a slugfest, it’s often just whoever bats last. A pitchers’ duel involves every single player and coach to the full extent of their abilities. Have you ever seen how all-out defensively players will go to preserve a no-hitter? Nothing better.

There’s nothing better than two pitchers on top of their game going head-to-head, plus defence and fundamentals seem to matter more in a 1-0 game than a 10-9 slugfest.
I’ve watched my fair share of blowout games, but can’t remember too much about most of them.
But I still remember a great 1-0 game at Fenway in 1998 when Pedro Martinez just outpitched Bartolo Colon. Midre Cummings hit a homer for the only run of the game.

easy.

Every pitch is so important, you don’t want to miss anything.

Also, during a pitchers’ duel, there is usually awesome defense involved…which is always exciting to watch.

and to keep in the spirit of the game:

Would you rather sniff Prince Fielder’s jock, or invest your money with Lenny Dykstra?

I’d rather see two guys working their craft - mixing up their pitches and hitting locations any day rather than a bunch of roided up meat-heads pounding someone who is out of his league.

On 6/13/06 I saw the greatest game I have ever seen live. Line below (thanks Retrosheet!).

Curt Schilling vs. Johan Santana. Both pitchers had put a few guys on, but Schilling kept managing to get the big out (ground balls, double plays) and Santana, breathtaking, struck out thirteen. The pressure rose, as the crowd felt that any mistake, any one run, would surely lock up the game. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Schilling gave up a HR to Cuddyer, 1-0 Twins. That seemed like that. Amazingly though, Jason “not-dead-yet” Varitek homered off Santana with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. 1-1 tie, a gorgeous pitchers duel, and both pitchers were lifted after eight.

In the 12th, the two closers used and sent to the showers, Jesse Crain gave up a couple of hits and allowed Mike Lowell to score. On came the immortal Julian Tavarez. 2 singles and a walk later, he faced Jason Kubel, and gave off the elusive and mighty walk-off Grand Slam. Twins win, 5-2.

This game had everything, then. Three HRs, two dominant pitching performances with just enough runners on base to keep it interesting, knee-buckling strikeouts, thick tension in extra innings, an unlikely hero and an all-too-likely goat.

Pitching duels create tension and drama in the way that homer-fests do not.

BOS A 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 - 2 9 0
MIN A 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 - 5 10 0

BOX+PBP
WP: Reyes (1-0)
LP: Tavarez (1-2)
HR: Varitek (7), Cuddyer (10), Kubel (3)