Tinker? Never A Chance

If you're reading me, you're probably reading him anyway, but the pseudonymous Ball-Wonk (At least I hope it's a pseudonym and not the result of some cruel parentage!) has a look at the lineup and Big Frank's grumblings that he's going to have to tinker with the lineup.

He, like me, hopes that it's just a bad bit of gas from his poached eggs over toast (or maybe grits?).

But whatever you do, don't panic. We're not losing for lack of hitting, although more runs would be nice. We lost these last two games because we gave up too many runs. You give up nine runs, well, you don't win that game. You just don't. Once or twice a season maybe you can buck the odds and score the heck out of an opponent after you spot him nine, but mostly you don't. That's not how this game works. Basically, in modern baseball, the goal is to score five runs while giving up only four. If you give up nine or six runs and don't win, well, sure, more productive hitting would be nice, but your real problem is giving up too many runs.

And, I'm relieved to see that I'm not the only one noticing that Frank doesn't like the sidetrip to homeplate when making a mid-inning pitching change:

Let's work on that - and especially on learning when to pull pitchers during innings and how to make a double-switch - before doing anything silly like batting Church leadoff.

Amen, Mister Wonk. (Mister Ball-Wonk?) Amen.