Opening Day Lineup

by R.J. Anderson on Mar 29, 2008 5:19 PM EDT

From The Heater comes the opening day lineup per Joe Maddon, remember Jeremy Guthrie is a right-handed pitcher.

Akinori Iwamura, 2b
Carl Crawford, lf
Carlos Pena, 1b
B.J. Upton, cf
Cliff Floyd, dh
Willy Aybar, 3b
Eric Hinske, rf
Dioner Navarro, c
Jason Bartlett, ss

It appears that Eric Hinske and Jonny Gomes will platoon out in right, making Nathan Haynes late game defense and pinch running his only real choir with an occasional spot start in left or center.

RF Platoon	OPS v. LHP	OPS v. RHP
Gomes	.933	.746
Hinske	.672	.799

We've talked sparingly about Hinske, but I'd put him in Jonny Gomes' category of mental stability and physicality, evidence A:

Jorge Posada Leveled (via yan2jt)

He's also known for cursing a lot. Perhaps our game threads will be Christened by a little four letter Hinske special?

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Top of the lineup looks good

the bottom half... not so good.

www.raysbb.com

Yes, we really do have fans.

by killa3312 on Mar 29, 2008 5:37 PM EDT reply actions

Good Lord

So 7 of our 9 hitters will be batting from the left side. Wow.

by Vin on Mar 29, 2008 5:40 PM EDT reply actions

Yowza.

by R.J. Anderson on Mar 29, 2008 5:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Bottom doesn't look great based on last year's numbers, but it has the potential to be very solid.

by R.J. Anderson on Mar 29, 2008 5:40 PM EDT reply actions

The Rays seem to have a lot of similarites to the Twins' lineup. Their 1-5 could be very solid, but the 6-9 has a lot of questions.

I think Bartlett will be better on offense than he was last season for the Twins. The big thing will be his defense.

"Don't take anything for granted, because tomorrow is not promised to any of us."

by Twins Territory on Mar 29, 2008 10:44 PM EDT up reply actions

It's interesting that in his 6 years, Hinske has had an OPS vs. righties under .800 3 times (.774, .672, .708 in 2003, 04, 07 respectively) and 3 times over (.904, .810, .895 in 2002, 05 & 06). And a couple of times, it was better against lefties than righties, including .760 last year.

Gomes on the other hand, not counting his first 2 years when he had just 7 and 9 plate appearances, had an OPS against lefties of .888, 1.052 & .918, and that second one came when his overall BA was .216!

by bobr on Mar 29, 2008 5:56 PM EDT reply actions