Manny Acta will have decisions to make each time the Indians face a left handed starting pitcher. Acta has 4 everyday starters who are left handed in Grady Sizemore, Shin-Soo Choo, Travis Hafner, and Michael Brantley. Below are the Indians splits versus left handed pitching for each player on the roster:
Today the Indians take on Brian Duensing of the Minnesota Twins. In his career he has held left handed batters to a .195/.250/.248 and right handers have hit him at a .278/.338/.416. The Indians have right handed bats in Adam Everett, Austin Kearns, Shelly Duncan, and Lou Marson on the bench today. Did Acta make the right call with his lineup or is he simply working off of "gut instinct" and going with the hot hand? Below are Duensing career numbers vs the Indians:
This is a good topic.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I would always choice Sizemore and Brantley over Kearns, Hafner over Duncan, and anyone over Everett. The only time I want to see bench players in the lineup is when a starter needs a day to rest. Our starters are simply better hitters.
I have a discussion of this topic on my blog as well.
http://thatteamfromcleveland.blogspot.com/2011/04/this-is-follow-up-piece-on-my-matt.html
I linked your piece.
Bryan
That team from Cleveland