I figured you'd be overjoyed with no Biggio out there . Seriously, though, the club needs to figure something out with Taveras... he's not really providing anything at the big league level right now except late-inning replacement defense/running. Palmeiro is capable of playing CF in the late innings (probably more-so than Willy, with his bad reads). Luke Scott could be called up to add another left-handed stick off the bench. Willy is wasting a roster spot.
Assuming Pettite holds lead here, who gets the nod in the 8th or 9th. Obivously you want Pettite to go as longs as he can. But if the need arises, does Garner stick with Lidge, give him another chance. Or has he gotten too many of those now?
The good news... with Andy seeming to round back into form, the "big 3" should be well intact for the second half of the season. The bad news... neither Ensberg or Lane have shown no indication of breaking out of summer-long slumps. Lane is essentially no longer an everyday player, and his replacement (Lamb) is the second best hitter right now... so the club has compensated for that. But, Ensberg is the absolute KEY to improving the offense for the second half of the season. In the end, the horrible bullpen pitching and occasional awful starts by Pettite, Wandy, and Buchholz have contirbuted more to this team being at .500 than the offense... but with the other two mainly rounding into form (minus Lidge), they have a chance to win a lot more games if the offense can put together games like they have over the last couple of weeks (the 6-7 run mini-explosions) more consistently.
palmeiro isn't an upgrade, nor would we be happy seeing him getting regular playing time either. i just dont understand what has happened to willy attempting bunts for hits and hitting grounders to the left side of the infield. i realize it's scott rolen out there tonight, but how many times has he even attempted bunting for a hit this season?
I'm glad I don't have to make that decision... as long as there's no Fox declaring the "player of the game" before the actual game is over.
Willy no longer makes awful contact as much (as he did last year)... which is what contributed to his infield hits more than anything. Thus, in effect, him improving his bat has been detrimental to those infield hits. As far as the bunts are concerned... everybody and their mom can see them coming... they position the fielders like he's a pitcher every time he comes up to bat. I also meant that Orlando can be a late-inning defensive replacement, like Willy is now... not be an everyday player (its Burke's job).
My guess is teams have adjusted to him so it's harder for Taveras to get those infield hits and bunt singles. Still, he might as well try it more since whatever he's doing now isn't working.
Also, him batting at the TOP of the order makes the opposing team more cognizant of not allowing him to get on base. If he's batting near the bottom of the lineup, he may benefit from pitcher's/fielder's decrease in concentration/intensity that can sometimes happen.
we let eckstein on, shocking. and so the collapse begins. edit: well we know pujols will come through which means it's tied at best. since we're not scoring again, it's a 1-3 series for us and a nice way to go into the all star break.
ah, you're saying if taveras wasnt on the team. my bad. like you said, i'd rather neither of them were on the team and scott/jimerson had one or both of those spots. couldn't do any worse. although i really know very little about jimerson defensively.
Lamb might have just blown the game he makes that play and Wheeler has a damn good chance to get out of the inning without runs
is it weird that i suddenly had a premonition that rolen was about to take the next pitch deep to left? and now we'll probably mow 'em down 1-2-3. we are the cards b****es.
