It's interesting to watch the way hitters approach knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. I've heard them describe facing a good knuckleball as "trying to eat soup with a fork," but I'm always amazed at how eager they are to swing at it.
If you're watching Wakefield, who is the reigning knuckleball king, you probably have noticed how many of the K-balls he throws that end up up out of the strike zone, yet the Orioles hitters keep finding themselves in a two-strike count where they have to swing at the one that dives into the dirt.
Maybe I'm just an armchair warrior, but I've been counting strikes and balls -- based on location and not outcome -- and I think the best strategy is to stay completely off the knuckleball until there are two strikes. I'm guessing Wakefield would be behind on the count a lot more and would have to go to that 74-mile-per-hour fastball to keep from walking a bunch of guys. I could be crazy, but it sure seems like swinging at the knuckler early in the count right now is an exercise in futility.