Line Up Switch Up

Hey, why the hell not, right?

Gibby decided today to make major overhauls in his batting order and most folks, including your humble corespondent) thinks he's showing some good ideas here - IF he sticks with it.

Here's the way they lined up in K.C. today:

Alex Rios, RF
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Scott Rolen, 3B
Matt Stairs, DH
Vernon Wells, CF
Aaron Hill, 2B
Adam Lind, LF
Rod Barajas, C
John McDonald SS

Now, overlooking the presence of Barajas and McDonald for a second, the rest of that looks mighty good. Rios leading off is appealing for many reasons, not the least of which is because this year (and, IIRC, on his career) he's been a better hitter with the bases empty than with runners in scoring position. Overbay hitting second would trouble me in a vacuum because I really like Hill in the 2 hole BUT given how well this lineup avoids that problem we have been seeing of having all our LH bats bunched together, I think that it works.
Scott "Messiah" Rolen (who's having another ass-kicking game today, BTW!) hitting third is - to borrow a word from my pals at DJF - bonerific!
Stairs cleaning up nestled in between Rolen and Wells is perfectly positioned, Wells out of the clean-up spot is overdue, and the rest of the lineup flows naturally from there. That line-up produces a much more natural R/L balance:

R-L-R-L-R-R-L-S-R

One can only pray that we stick with this when Eckstien returns and the Little Big Man will slide into the #9 spot.

Oh, and just for the sheer joy of repeating it, through five innings of todays game Scott Rolen is:

.444 - .545 - .1.000 - 1.545

He has three XBH in four total hits, 4 RBI and a stolen base! I think we can quit worrying about whether he's ready to hit.

Despite the six game losing streak, I still believe. The light at the end of the tunnel is not a train.

~WillRain