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Quick hits
May. 8, 2009 | 11:00 pm
3 
By Steve Foster
Seth Smith hit leadoff for the first time this season, the third different leadoff hitter for the Rockies. Dexter Fowler has been at the top of the lineup 20 times, Ryan Spilborghs seven.
Spilborghs hit cleanup for the second straight game, while Garrett Atkins was on the bench again.
Omar Quintanilla, who struck out pinch-hitting in the ninth, logged his first at-bat since April 28.
Chris Iannetta went 2-for-4, raising his average to .212 for the season, the highest it has been since two at-bats into the second game of the season, when he dropped to .200.
Huston Street stretched his string of scoreless outings to six. In those games he has pitched five innings and allowed three hits and a walk. His ERA has dropped from 8.59 to 5.11.
Clint Barmes was 0-for-4 for the second straight game. In his past nine at-bats, he is 0-for-9 with four strikeouts and has three hits in his past 27 at-bats, dropping his average to .228.
The Rockies went 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position, the hit being Brad Hawpe’s run-scoring double in the third. In 11 of the other 15 at-bats, the ball never left the infield.
Do you think the lack of a consistent lineup is hurting this team as a whole? Or is it just that Hurdle is trying to find some lineup that is going to perform on a consistent basis because so far he isnt sure which guys are going to show up each day?
Probably more the latter, IMO.
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of correlation between who’s hitting and who’s moving around the lineup. Hawpe and Helton hit and have held the same position, but now Fowler is in a dry spell and his lineup spot is steady, as is Atkins’. Smith, Spilly and Iannetta seem ok moving around.
Players often say they like a set lineup, but there have also been plenty of teams that perform well with a lot of movement in the lineup.
Tony LaRussa rarely uses the same lineup on consecutive days, and no one can tell me that this “hurts” the Cardinals’ offensive performance. What hurts them is when Albert Pujols is out. Good hitters will hit wherever they are. Clint Barmes will not hit for long wherever he is.
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