Rays Pitcher *gets* to Hit

This will be old news for all of you who follow baseball closely, but the Tampa Bay Rays forfeited their right to their Designated Hitter in their game last Sunday because the manager signed off on a lineup card that listed two players at 3rd base (one was supposed to be the DH). The Indians noticed (having experience a similar mishap themselves back in 1999) and brought it to the umpire's attention after the top of the first inning. As a result pitcher Andy Sonnanstine had to hit, or as he said "I was going to get to hit" (From the Tampa Bay Online). Not only that, but he had to hit 3rd in the lineup. The first time pitcher had hit higher than 7th in the order since 1968 (From Yahoo! Sports).

It worked out pretty well as Sonnanstine went 1 for 3 with and RBI double in the Rays 7-5 win. For a complete explanation of the Designated Hitter rule and a list of when pitchers have had to hit (including the aforementioned incident in Cleveland), check out the Wikipedia Page.