Batting the pitcher 8th

[fatsean]

I see La Russa likes to bat the pitcher in the 8th spot. Last night the Cardinals had 18 baserunners and the pitcher's spot left 4 men on base. I just don't see any advantage to this at all.
Can anybody explain it to me?

[redssince75]

[Double post, slow blackberry]

[redssince75]

I finally understand what Larussa is doing with this, and it is entirely Pujols-based.

1) He absolutely wants P to bat in the first inning (therefore 3 instead of 4).

2) He wants P to come up with men on base (therefore 3 instead of 1 or 2).

3) After the 1st inning, he wants to turn P into his clean-up hitter by letting him bat fourth in a 9-1-2-3 configuration (as long as 9 is a position player).

Larussa feels the importance of these 3 things is greater than the downside of your pitcher hitting more frequently than your 9 hole. Plus, he figures after 3 pitcher ABs, you'll be in the PH part of the game anyway, making the downside of the 8/9 switch moot, but leaving his Pujols plan in place.

[Kiko]

Yes, the reasoning that I've heard is to have greater probability of runners on base when Pujols comes to bat.

[DocRed]

It's dumb and there is a reason why noone else does it. Pitcher came up several times last night with RISP and did nothing.

[Orodle]

I like it. The more of a chance that Pujols comes up with runners on the less likely the opposing team is gunna be in a situation where they might be able to pitch around him.

[Vottomatic]

It's completely situation based, and if the situation doesn't work out, TLR looks like an idiot. If the situation does work out, and then Pujols delivers, TLR looks like a genius. Definitely a 50/50 proposition. Last night it hurt them with the pitcher leaving 4 men LOB.