Runs

I'm fairly sure Lloyd McClendon didn't read Sports Illustrated's article about making lineups and who hits where in their baseball preview issue. Ok, I'm positive he didn't read it. The truth is, the Pirates probably don't have ideal hitters to fill all eight slots in a lineup perfectly, I won't argue with that. The problem is that most nights of the week, Lloyd makes out a "wish" lineup. Last night was a perfect example. After Lawton, Mackowiak, Bay, and Ward he batted Tike Redman 5th and Bobby Hill 6th. I'm sure the thinking was, "Well, if Tike gets a hit, that puts an extra runner on base for Hill." Of course there's a huge problem with thinking like that. Watching my dad manage kids at various ages between 8 and 12 for six years, there was one thing that he learned very quickly, batting bad hitters between good hitters hoping that they'll get a hit is a recipe for not scoring. Anytime you have to HOPE someone gets a hit to extend a rally, chances are that person isn't a good hitter and that hit isn't coming. The only way to get any offense at all, especially on a hitting challenged team like the Buccos, is to bat all of your best hitters in a row. Would Bobby Hill batting fifth have won us a baseball game yesterday? Maybe not, but then again, in the 4th inning with runners on second and third and one out, Hill is much more likely to double in the gap and score both runners than Redman is. As it was, Tike hit a sac fly and Hill then made an out stranding Daryle Ward at second. It would have also changed the way Tomko pitched to Ward last night. Ward was seeing the ball very well, crushing a double that was very nearly a three run homer in the second, and later in the game fouled off about 7 pitches waiting for one in the "Daryle Ward home run zone", as I like to call the one portion of the strike zone he can actually hit the ball in. The problem is there was already two outs and Tike Redman was on deck. Ward fouled off pitches until he worked Tomko for a walk. Tike weakly grounded out and the inning ended. I can't say for sure we win last night with Bobby Hill batting 5th, but he was one of our five best hitters in the lineup last night, and batting him fifth certainly would have given us a better chance, and with Lloyd's Little League "wish" lineup in effect last night, a chance was something we didn't have.