|
Why bat a lifelong American League pitcher ninth when it's exactly what they're expecting you to do?
Tony La Russa, who's smarter than the phone book, slotted in Joel Piniero [url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/08/04/bc.bbn.cardinalsbatting.ap/]eighth[/url] and Adam Kennedy ninth.
I was at a game in 2005 in which Jack McKeon batted Dontrelle Willis seventh. The Marlins were beset by injuries and Willis is an honest-to-goodness hitter. Piniero? Two for 24 in his career. Kennedy is an actual player, even in a slump.
There's challenging orthodoxy and then there's just managing for the sake of managing and embarrassing a veteran, which is what La Russa did. Cardinals lost to the Nationals 12-1. Piniero's hitting wasn't any better than his pitching. Kennedy did collect two hits, though. If he goes on a hot streak, I take back my insistence that La Russa's genius tag is self-applied and overblown.
| 
