Not sure if you've been paying attention, but this week the Buccos skipper, the charismatic John Russell, indicated that he will follow the footsteps of well-known and self-proclaimed baseball genius Tony LaRussa and bat the pitcher in the #8 spot in the batting order. This sure ought to turn around the Pirates losing ways.
I'm sorry, but no matter how these guys spin this, there is NO WAY that this makes sense. Over the course of 162 games, the #8 batter will bat more than the #9 batter. This makes no sense at all. None. Sorry, but I'm not buying it.
Can't wait to hear JR's always scintillating post game press conferences when he dazzles us with his well-known personality and gift of gab as he justifies this brilliant piece of strategy. Wonder why John McGraw never thought of doing this?
Speaking of Pirates managers, did you notice that when the Pirates recently announced their 2000-09 All-Decade Team (seriously, they actually did that), they named Lloyd McClendon as the Manager. This is a move that I whole-heartedly endorse, if for no other reason that Lloyd reintroduced the word "flummoxed" back into everyday vocabulary! And he always batted the pitcher in the nine-hole. You gotta love that!!
Ever since Russell somehow became known as "J.R.", it's all been a little strange.
ReplyDeleteWhen Ronny Cedeno was told he would be batting 9th in the order, he was asked how he felt about it. His response was.....
"I'm a little shook up!"