Just North of Wrigley Field

posted by James - 1:37 AM

What in red and blue blazes has fueled Dusty Baker's latest fetish with having hitters with a sub .650 OPS hitting second in the lineup?

He's now done so three times in the last week, following Corey Patterson with feared offensive powers Jose Macias, Neifi Perez and Tom Goodwin.

Any wonder they were shut out in two out of three of those games?

I should just let it go at that, but I won't because reworking a lineup to atone for grievous errors by pompous, incompetent managers is one of my fetishes.

So, here's my "What if...?" episode of today's double-header using only the players from the starting lineups:

Game 1
1. Patterson cf
2. Barrett c
3. Lee 1b
4. Garciaparra ss
5. Sosa rf
6. Walker 2b
7. Martinez 3b
8. Goodwin lf

Game 2
1. Patterson cf
2. Grudzielanek 2b
3. Lee 1b
4. Alou lf
5. Ramirez 3b
6. Perez ss
7. Macias rf
8. Bako c

For what it's worth, I wouldn't have let Prior pitch the eighth inning after the Cubs had taken a 11-2 lead either.

Looking at how Dusty "distributed" his available talent over the two games... I'm surprised the Cubs "managed" a split.