Friday, July 8, 2011

This Has Got to Stop

The belief (one that I share myself) is that Buck Showalter should be in Baltimore for years to come.  However, upon inspecting tonight's lineup, Vladimir Guerrero is still penciled in as the clean-up man.  While I understand that the Orioles do not have a true clean-up hitter (no Vlad is not, anymore) and it can be effective to stick with a guy when he is slumping, but the fact of the matter is that it has been too long, and the O's are struggling too much.  I am not saying "bench Vlad."  I am just saying, put him in a lower batting slot.  While his average is still up around .280, the fact of the matter is... he is NOT putting up RBIs.  The Orioles over some of their struggles have put up multiple games where their hit totals are close to 15, but they have put up 5 or less runs.  It is unacceptable, and it starts with the middle of the lineup.  I truly believe that in times of deep peril (like the Orioles are facing) you turn to the players who are hot, and you slot them in places where they can give you the best results.  Move Vladdy down, and maybe he will pick back up with the pressure off of him.  Isn't it at least worth a shot?  There is not much to lose at this point.

2 comments:

  1. The starting pitching is just sad. I just watched Ortiz hit a three run home run off Britton in the FIRST inning to make it 4-0. It can be pretty hard to be an O's fan.

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  2. A possible lineup would be

    Hardy (SS)
    Markakis (RF)
    Jones (CF)
    Reynolds (3B)
    Wieters (C)
    Guerrero (DH)
    Reimold (LF)
    Lee (1B)
    Davis (2B)

    I know Reynolds is a K machine, but he is hot at the moment and he leads the Orioles in RBIs. I also could see Jones hitting clean up, but his speed is nice in the three hole.

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