It seems to be working the last few days, though I admit I was skeptical.. do you guys think this would have any effect?
2007-08-16 21:23:56 · 19 answers · asked by Daniel 6 in Sports ➔ Baseball
He has done this before with the Cardinals and it has work. Most of the time it is when he has a good-hitting pitcher. It isn't such a strange thing to do. Back in the 70's and early 80's the phillies use to do this when Carlton pitched. Batting the pitcher eighth does have some advantages. If the No. 7 hitter leads off the inning and gets on base, you can use the pitcher to bunt him over, then you have your No. 9 and lead-off man with under 2 outs to get him home. I've seen numerous times when the No. 7 hitter gets on to lead off the inning and seen the No. 8 guy hit into a double play and kill the inning before it has a chance.
2007-08-16 22:07:10 · answer #1 · answered by charles021263 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
It's no different than any other strategy move... sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't.
In yesterday's game (Thursday) against Milwaukee's pitcher (Bush) Molina hit a homerun with the Cardinal pitcher in the batters box. Bush must not have been paying attention to who was up next because he chose to pitch to Molina.
Somebody for Milwaukee should have been aware that the pitcher was the next batter. If they were, they didn't show it. LaRussa got away with that one.
As a result the Cards swept the 3-game set and now find themselves only 3 1/2 games out of first place.
Go Cards.
2007-08-17 05:34:52 · answer #2 · answered by Jay9ball 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
LaRussa is a very good manager. And why not do it? A lot of pitchers are actually good batters as well. But he must've seen something within the lineup and his stats chart to put the pitcher in the 8th spot.
OurBS.com
2007-08-23 14:46:59 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think its an intriguing strategy. Where is it written in stone that the pitcher HAS to bat ninth, especially if the no. 8 hitter doesnt have a high average? Its just a differant way to do things. I have to respect LaRussas desire to shake things up.
2007-08-23 07:12:34 · answer #4 · answered by mikecubbie69 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Tony LaRussa seems to have always done something or the other unusual. I am pretty sure he does it to keep things interesting! You should have seen some of the stuff he did when he was coaching the A's!
2007-08-17 06:43:22 · answer #5 · answered by Elaine S 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
i think that all pitchers should bat 8th and here is why. pitchers usually have very low averages. and if your pitcher has poor hitting, he will just lead right into the leadoff hitter. so if you have the number 8 hitter who hits something like .250, instead of the pitcher who probably hits below the mendoza line, there is a better chance to drive in a run if you bat a batter 9th because they are probably faster and are probably a better hitter. and that is very important in the national league because in the national league a lot you have to manufacutre a lot of runs.
2007-08-17 08:32:02 · answer #6 · answered by ryansraysrule 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
There are a lot of reasons that a manager would choose to do this. Some managers, like Mike Scioscia like to put a virtual lead off hitter in the 9 spot, That way as they hit that part of the line up, they basically have two lead off hitters up before the big guns.
2007-08-22 00:35:01 · answer #7 · answered by Silvio 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think it is a smart move to an extent, it has it's ups and it's downs. The only bad thing i can think of is there are 1 out and a guy on second, they could walk him and have bad hitter up next instead the top of the order.
2007-08-21 16:43:48 · answer #8 · answered by Ethan B 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I like it. He does it to raise the odds of the #3 hitter come to bat with men on base. At the very least it gets hits own players thinking.
2007-08-17 10:34:09 · answer #9 · answered by harmonv 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Boston Red Sox once had a pitcher who regularly batted fourth!
Edit: It was Babe Ruth
2007-08-17 19:14:42 · answer #10 · answered by Artful 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋