Ever the Optimist! Curses!!

Player POS G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG OPS E
Berroa SS 30 122 15 37 5 0 1 15 45 4 17 2 1 .336 .369 .303 .705 5

Would it not be ironic if Angel Berroa is the savior of this lineups hitting woes. Past experience says he will definitely not be. But after his initial call-up, Angel did manage Rookie of the Year with 17-odd homers and 70 or 80 RBIs, which this team definitely needs.

I won't say that he's going to be the longterm solution for our hitting deficiencies, in fact, having him in our lineup at all shows just how bad we are, but if he can continue to hit around .260 to .280 as he may be capable of doing, while cutting down on the strikeouts, then this may be a useful promotion. ESPECIALLY, if he will be used as Pena's backup.

The one issue I have with Angel being a utility player is the fact that he strikes out too much. Honestly, if it's the 8th inning and you want to substitute Pena out for Berroa, as a manager, I'm not too worried about Berroa's defense for 2 innings. What I'm worried about is subbing Berroa in for Pena when there are 2 outs in the 8th, bases loaded and the Royals are down by 1 or 2 runs. This situation is rife for Berroa to swing at bad pitches and miss.

I hope I'm wrong and that Berroa had a chance to clear the cobwebs, or that he'll ride his nice hitting streak for a few more weeks in the bigs. Either way, one hopes that he will continue to hit.

Venturing into an area I know nothing about, so if one of my compatriots wants to school us all on the science of a lineup, please do. It almost seems worthwhile to bat Berroa 2nd in the lineup after Dejesus, rather than later in the game. I'm not sure what types of pitches an average player sees in the number 2 slot, but Berroa does have speed and the #2 slot initially in the game, has very little pressure involved; are my thoughts, but again, I don't know the science.

What worries me about this promotion, and Gload's injury, is that suddenly, our plethora of 1B are gone. I could care less if Sweeney sees time at 1B. In my book, anything he does is added bonus b/c he isn't a player I care to count on anymore for 2 reasons: he will not be back with us next year (unless he finds his offense and decides take MUCH MUCH less money) and even then, we have a professional DH already (though I'd take a hitting Sweeney and Butler's lackluster defense in the OF for a season). What bothers me is that Bell said Butler and/or Gordon will split time with Sweeney at first until Shealy is back (hopefully, by the end of the week; he begins his rehab today, I believe).

Firstly, Butler can't play D in the OF, how do they expect him to play D in the IF? Second, even though he has hit better than Gordon, last time I checked he was still hitting for shit (.243 BA, .256 OBP, .297 SLG).

The same argument applies to Gordon, hitting .164, .297 OBP, .259 SLG, with 39 Ks (leads team) and 7 errors. This is a guy struggling in all aspects of his game and now they want him to switch positions for a couple days. Even though it is short-term, I see this as a hindrance to his development. Esteban German is supposed to be able to play most of the positions, make him suck it up rather than playing him at 3rd.