I'm not talking about Jonny Gomes or Daniel Nava (Nava), David Ross or Jarrod Saltalamacchia (Ross), Stephen Drew or Will Middlebrooks (Drew), but rather where in the lineup Farrell should hit David Ortiz.
For tonight's Game 5, the last one without the use of the designated hitter, I think Farrell should switch Ortiz with Dustin Pedroia to prevent the Cardinals from simply pitching around Ortiz.
No one would blame Cardinals manager Mike Matheny if he ordered his pitchers to avoid giving Ortiz anything good to hit. Ortiz is on a tear at the plate, hitting .727 with a ridiculous 2.114 OPS in the first four games of the World Series with 2 home runs, 5 RBI, and 4 walks.
To try to force Matheny to pitch to Ortiz, Farrell should put Pedroia in the cleanup spot and bump Ortiz up to the third spot for tonight and then go back to his normal lineup, which would have Mike Napoli hitting fifth behind Ortiz for Game 6.
Matheny may still want to avoid pitching to Ortiz but I like the idea of having Pedroia coming up with men on base after Ortiz and in front of Daniel Nava and Xander Bogaerts.
No comments:
Post a Comment