Ozzie Guillen
may have one change in mind when the Sox resume play against the Texas Rangers tonight, according to Mark Gonzalez:
Guillen is considering moving Tadahito Iguchi back to the second spot he held for the two previous seasons and dropping Darin Erstad to sixth or seventh. Guillen added he might opt for more of a left-handed, right-handed mix throughout the lineup after stacking the lineup with left-handed hitters at the top of the order against opposing right-handed pitchers.
I like the first part. I've
been saying all along that even though Iguchi drove in more runs in Japan, his inside-out swing and satisfactory on-base and baserunning skills make him perfectly suitable for hitting before the Sox's biggest bats, and behind their most active basestealing threat.
The second part? He has the right idea, but it doesn't go far enough. Erstad should be moved down, but hitting sixth is still way too high for a couple of reasons:
1) Too many RBI opportunities for an ice-cold hitter. You know, assuming the 3-4-5 combo picks it up, of course. Joe Crede hit sixth most of last year and drove in 94 runs. That's an impressive total when considering he couldn't do anything for the entire last month. Before his back flared up, he was on pace to clear 100.
While it's understood RBI is kind of a fluky stat, the point is there are runs to be had. Going 2-for-25 -- with neither hit leaving the infield -- isn't going to help bring them home.
2) Way too many ground balls. Out of the 23 balls Erstad has put in play this year, 16 of them have been grounders. That's not a particularly good combination right behind two of the Sox's slowest runners. Because he's lefty and somewhat fast, he doesn't hit into as many double plays as you might expect. It does amount to a hell of a lot of fielder's choices, though, and I don't see Jim Thome, Paul Konerko or Jermaine Dye scoring from third on those.
That's about all the energy I can muster for the center field debate, because clearly he isn't going anywhere, and Ozzie's
not in any rush to give Brian Anderson more playing time. Erstad was given the job outright despite having as much to prove as anybody else, and because
he's a BASEBALL PLAYER, he'll
baseball play until he breaks down. We may as well just try to enjoy the gritty, gutty, all-out 4-3's the best we can.
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Minor league round-up:
- Birmingham 2, Montgomery 1 (10 innings)
- Adam Russell pitched a solid game once again, striking out six in five innings. Plus, he only allowed one run despite giving up six hits and three walks.
- Fernando Hernandez Jr., Carlos Vazquez and Edwardo Sierra pitched four shutout innings of relief.
- Jason Bourgeois drove in the game-winning run with a single up the middle.
- Robert Valido, batting ninth now instead of second, went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk. Valido is 3-for-7 at the bottom of the order, compared to 2-for-33 hitting first or second.
- Winston-Salem 5, Myrtle Beach 2
- David Cook and Daron Roberts homered during a four-run first; Roberts has homered in two straight games, and Cook, just named Carolina League Player of the Week, is starting off this one in strong fashion.
- Aaron Cunningham saw his nine-game hit streak end, but he did score a run after reaching on an error leading off the game, and had a sac fly as well. His average plummeted to .382.
- Justin Cassell allowed two runs (one unearned), the first time the opposition has scored on him. He allowed six hits, two walks, and struck out five in 5 1/3 innings.
- Carlos Torres struck out four in 2 2/3 innings. He has struck out nine in 8 1/3 innings, and has yet to walk a batter this season.
- Savannah 6, Kannapolis 3 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- Francisco Hernandez and Robert Hudson each had two hits.
- No pitcher had what you'd call an impressive outing. Noe Rodriguez struck out the side, but not before allowing four hits and two runs, earning the loss in the process.
- Clevelan Santeliz is having an interesting start to his season -- he's struck out 10 in seven innings, but has allowed more runs (4) than hits (3). It's not even that he's walking a lot of people (3), but he's served up two poorly timed gopher balls.
- Savannah 3, Kannapolis 2 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Justin Edwards gave up his first three runs of the season, two of them earned. He did manage to strike out six in 4 2/3 innings.
- Brandon Allen, Anderson Gomes and John Shelby Jr. posted the same line -- 2-for-3 with a double. Gomes and Shelby had the Intimidators' RBI.
- Charlotte vs. Rochester, Games 1 and 2 PPD