They don't battle at the plate at all. We have way, way, way too many 1st pitch swingers with Salty, Gonzo, Ciriaco, Aviles, Crawford, etc, so rather than pushing the opposing SP pitch count up during the early innings and getting to a fatigued pitcher by the 5th inning, they're watching the pitch counts creep into the 90's in the 7th, when the opposing teams are comfortable going to the bullpen because they're not going to burn out the bullpen if they're only asking for 5 or 7 outs.