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Baker’s TWO reasons for Patterson
By Hal McCoy | Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 03:20 PM
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“…feeble reasons, illogical reasons…”
Damn. True. You go, Hal.
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One might label this one: “Beating the opposition the punch,” or, “A guilty conscience.”
Before he asked by the media after Tuesday’s game, Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker brought it up himself, saying he knew people wandered why.
Oh, yeah?
So why did Baker permit Corey Patterson, a lefthander hitting .193, bat against Dodger lefthander Joe Beimel, a pitcher against whom Patterson was 1 for 13 with six strikeouts.
At theime, there were runners on second and third with two outs and the Reds trailed, 2-1. Patterson bounced meekly to second base.
Baker said his reason was two-fold:
ONE - He said at the time he didn’t believe Ken Griffey Jr. was availalbe (out of the lineup with a virus), although Griffey pinch-hit in the ninth - and struck out.
And he said Patterson hits leftanders better than righthanders. Untrue. Patterson is hitting .167 against lefthanders and .199 against righthanders. Clearly, he hits neither.
TWO - Baker said he had no outfielders. Andy Phillips played outfield in spring training, but not since, and Baker said it would be unfair to him. Still, he could have played right field for a couple of innings, with Jay Bruce moving from right to center.
And shortstop Jolbert Cabrera played 16 games in the outfield for Louisville. He could have moved from shortstop to right and Paul Janish inserted a shortstop.
To me, those are feeble reasons, Illogical reasons.
Anyway, that’s Baker’s story and he is sticking to it as we sit in the press box at Great American Ball Park awaiting the second game of the Dodgers series.
The thing is - nobody is hitting. The Reds are hitting .178 on this 2-5 homestand. They’ve scored 2.3 runs a game. They are hitting .075 with runners in scoring position and are 0 for their last 11.
My Aunt Opal could hit better than that with her ironing board - and she is in a wheel chair.
The lineup hasn’t been posted yet, but if Patterson is in there I won’t be able to write tonight because there will be a mess on my laptop.
That's insane.