throw try to brush our hitters back and knock them down. The other coaches will ***** about it to the umpires to the point where they may not allow a hitter to go to first base if he gets plunked.
The rule, as I have had it explained to me, and I think Patdog kind of alluded to this, is that the hitter has to make an effort to get out of the way of the pitch. That's very subjective, of course, and this weekend, one of our hitters was indeed not allowed to go to first base because of this. Of course, Cohen is well aware of this, and I'm 100% sure that he has made it known to our hitters that if they get hit to make sure that they do something to at least try to make it look like we are getting out of the way.
The thing I like about it is that when you have a reputation for doing something like leaning in, it gives the other team something else to think about. It also puts a thought in the back of the pitcher's mind, "Hey, if I go inside they might lean into the pitch." You're essentially taking away half of the plate. Putting thoughts like that into a pitcher's head make it harder for them to execute their pitches and puts more pressure on them to make an even more perfect pitch.