1.   Although pleased with the pitching, Contreras was ecstatic Thursday with the way his pitchers hit.

2.   American League teams are reluctantly letting their pitchers into the batting cage to practice for games in NL cities, where pitchers will hit.

3.   And, some say, they would rather see pitchers hit.

4.   Arizona pitchers have hit two homers, one by starter Andy Benes, the other from former Braves reliever Gregg Olson.

5.   As in the World Series, the DH rule will be followed in American League parks but pitchers will hit in National League stadiums.

6.   Both of those incidents took place in Yankee Stadium, where the designated hitter rule applies and pitchers do not hit.

7.   But for the third time in four games a Dodgers pitcher hit a batter to force in a run.

8.   Even the pitcher hit a grand slam homerun.

9.   Fellow pitcher Mike James, taking batting practice only because pitchers would be hitting in interleague games at National League ballparks, lost hold of his bat.

10.   --If this interleague play is to please the fans, they should have pitchers hit in American League parks and use the DH at National League parks.