Help understanding this sentence/joke


For context, the girl has found out that her 推しメン(refers to someone's
favourite member e.g. of a idol group from what I understand) has been exposed
(週刊誌にすっぱ抜かれて). Based on the context below it would seem that they were caught
at a love hotel, which If I understand the way the quotes are being used is
called フリーバッティング(why would a love hotel be called this).

However, I am looking at the second part of the sentence and am not quite sure
I understand what is being said. If I understand correctly it is essentially
saying something like: if you are going to play around with women, then at
least 'narrow down to a low and inside pitch, and swing'. Is this essentially
saying something like "focus on one woman"(i.e. don't play around with
multiple women), or am I completely off in my understanding? There is no more
context as this was only a short few lines as the character was leaving the
classroom.

> 「何よラブホテル『フリーバッティング』って、どうせ女遊びするなら内角低めの直球に絞って振りなさいよ」
>
> なんか、独特な愚痴をこぼしている




You’ve got the basic baseball metaphor right – the speaker is implicitly
comparing the idol to a batter who swung at the wrong kind of pitch. I’ll
break down a few of the key phrases below.

> フリーバッティング (“free batting”)

means batting practice, and according to 大辞林 it refers specifically to [a type
of practice in which the batter is allowed to pick what kind of pitch he
wants](https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E3%83%95%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%90%E3%83%83%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0).
I initially took this as the speaker's own metaphor for the idol's
philandering, but on reflection I think you're correct in interpreting it as
the name of the love hotel where he was caught. Presumably, it's this name
that then inspires the speaker to come up with the baseball metaphor that
follows.

> [狙{ねら}い球{だま}に] 絞{しぼ}って振る

refers to batting selectively or “waiting for the right pitch" – that is,
planning one's at-bat and taking a careful, disciplined approach, rather than
simply chasing any pitch that comes along or trying to decide after a pitch is
thrown whether it is going to be hittable or not. The "right pitch" can vary
depending on the state of play, the pitcher's strengths and weaknesses and
pitching patterns, and the batter's objective (e.g., getting on base vs.
hitting a sacrifice fly or bunt). It can also change during the course of an
at-bat.

> 内角低めの直球

is a hypothetical example of a 狙い球 – a **low, inside "straight" pitch**. (That
is, a non-breaking pitch, like a four-seam fastball, as opposed to a curveball
or a slider.)

So we can translate this part of the passage as

> A love hotel called "Free Batting"? Give me a break! If you’re going to fool
> around, don’t just swing at anything – wait for a non-breaking pitch that’s
> low and inside.

Without more context, I don't think it's possible to say exactly what is meant
by this metaphor, or whether there’s any real significance to the specific
pitch that’s named. But the basic idea seems to be that the guy should have
been more selective in choosing a partner and/or a venue for his philandering.
That is, either the woman herself was somehow unsuitable, or he should have
taken her somewhere other than a love hotel. And possibly these two ideas are
linked: He shouldn’t be fooling around with the kind of woman who is content
to be taken to a love hotel.




You’ve got the basic baseball metaphor right – the speaker is implicitly
comparing the idol to a batter who swung at the wrong kind of pitch. I’ll
break down a few of the key phrases below.

> フリーバッティング (“free batting”)

means batting practice, and according to 大辞林 it refers specifically to [a type
of practice in which the batter is allowed to pick what kind of pitch he
wants](https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E3%83%95%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%90%E3%83%83%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0).
I initially took this as the speaker's own metaphor for the idol's
philandering, but on reflection I think you're correct in interpreting it as
the name of the love hotel where he was caught. Presumably, it's this name
that then inspires the speaker to come up with the baseball metaphor that
follows.

> [狙{ねら}い球{だま}に] 絞{しぼ}って振る

refers to batting selectively or “waiting for the right pitch" – that is,
planning one's at-bat and taking a careful, disciplined approach, rather than
simply chasing any pitch that comes along or trying to decide after a pitch is
thrown whether it is going to be hittable or not. The "right pitch" can vary
depending on the state of play, the pitcher's strengths and weaknesses and
pitching patterns, and the batter's objective (e.g., getting on base vs.
hitting a sacrifice fly or bunt). It can also change during the course of an
at-bat.

> 内角低めの直球

is a hypothetical example of a 狙い球 – a **low, inside "straight" pitch**. (That
is, a non-breaking pitch, like a four-seam fastball, as opposed to a curveball
or a slider.)

So we can translate this part of the passage as

> A love hotel called "Free Batting"? Give me a break! If you’re going to fool
> around, don’t just swing at anything – wait for a non-breaking pitch that’s
> low and inside.

Without more context, I don't think it's possible to say exactly what is meant
by this metaphor, or whether there’s any real significance to the specific
pitch that’s named. But the basic idea seems to be that the guy should have
been more selective in choosing a partner and/or a venue for his philandering.
That is, either the woman herself was somehow unsuitable, or he should have
taken her somewhere other than a love hotel. And possibly these two ideas are
linked: He shouldn’t be fooling around with the kind of woman who is content
to be taken to a love hotel.

