Ensberg is hitting pretty well this year, but I'd rather see him #5 with Lane batting cleanup until Berk gets back. (And I'd like to have Berkman as #3 instead of #4, but that's another topic).
LMAO.....I agree Ausmus and Everett are horrible right now and probably won't be coming around. I know mister double play Ausmus won't, thats for damn sure. He should bat in the freakin 9 spot. Good thing he's not in the AL they would probably put the pitcher in his spot and DH for him.
To be fair, Taveras did not suck. He drew a walk and landed a hit. He even had a well tatooed ball that was caught near the warning track. I did not expect much from this early but now that he is doing it well enough I say Garner should make the move. If Garner sticks with the same lineup then......[I will reserve my comment for later]
Right... I forgot Taveras... but then again, he could have gone 4-4, and no good would have come out of it because of where he bats in the lineup.
I agree that Morgan should moved to the 5th or 6th slot depending on if Luke is in the lineup because Morgan does not approach his at bats like a cleanup hitter. Something has been wrong with him since last season and it has not really improved. His swing is flawed despite his descent BA. He seems tentatively. He cost us the other game by initially the long delay that led to Andy's demise but that is a different topic entirely. Now on Berhman and the #3 slot, I'll say because we need someone in the #4 slot to drive in runs. Bags still has a great eye and can draw walks - he will likely not be that more effective in bringing the runs home. With Willie and Bigde at the top, Lance will have enough opportunity to drive it runs from the 4 slot.
We need our best hitter in the 3 hole....and if Berkman is our best hitter when he gets back, thats where he should bat
The #3 is definitely a RBI slot. Lance does everything Bags does - homers, BA, runs - but better. And Bagwell is still a good enough hitter tp provide protection so that people can't pitch around Berk. If Berkman is #4, and Ensberg is behind him, there's no incentive to pitch to Lance.
I would just keep things as is... Bagwell at the 3 and Berkman at the 4. Last year, Berkman didn't do all that much better at the #3, while Bagwell did FAR worse. In that case, you take the lesser of two evils... Bagwell is still not as good as Lance, but he's better as the #3 than he is anywhere else in the lineup.
I'd agree if you were correct on the underlying facts. But Bagwell's numbers at the 3 as opposed to the rest of the lineup were fairly close last season. And over the past 3 years, he's actually hit better at cleanup than at the 3, in a statistically significant number of at bats.
Really? I could have sworne that the Bags experiement at the #2 spot, and then getting dropped all the way down to #6, were disasters.
He sucked at #2 but got only 16 ABs there. He hit .250/5/11 in 72 ABs hitting 6th, which would be ~ .250/35/77 in 500 ABs. (Fewer RBI opportunities hitting that low, but the power numbers were solid).
I'm headed to Live tonight to watch the game like last night... let's just hope we can get more offense today.
I'm chillin' at Live, wathing the Astros, drinking a Miller and posting on Clutch... God I love technology, lol. Back on topic, it was good to hear that Biggio will only miss a game or two because of the plunking. That guy is made of steel.
Scott ropes a 2-out RBI single... finally jumping on an early pitch. Overall, I think the Astros are trying to be too selective at the plate... just find a pitch you like, and rip it... don't worry about getting on base, because you're likely going to end up being stranded there if you do.
I was watching the Yahoo! scoreboard for the game and it said: "Luke Scott lines out to right." - Mid Inning That was hilarious. Ausmus can't even get a hit on his birthday.
