April 29, 2009

Stults Bats Eighth

Joe Torre shows he’s willing to go beyond conventional wisdom and bats the pitcher eighth tonight.

Juan Pierre, who was making his third start of the season, was listed as the No. 9 hitter for tonight’s series finale in San Francisco.

Stults was in the eighth spot.

“I’ve been threatening it, right?” Manager Joe Torre said. “It’s just seemed like a situation, with a player like Juan, he’d be freer to steal and stuff with [Rafael] Furcal hitting behind him instead of the pitcher. . . . To me, it makes sense with a guy with speed . . . I just don’t want to take away some of his tools from him.”

Good for Joe. At this point in his career, Pierre isn’t really a second leadoff man, but he’s certainly better than the pitcher in that spot.

Update: So far it’s not working. Lincecum is perfect through three innings.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *