Marlins leadoff ace Ramirez moves down the lineup

	Hanley Ramirez is a rare combination of power and speed, with eight home runs and 17 stolen bases already on the season. AP

ATLANTA -- Fredi Gonzalez, the new manager of the bargain-bin Marlins, plopped down at his desk Tuesday to scratch out a lineup card between games of a day-night doubleheader with the Braves. He grabbed a slip of paper and a pencil and wrote centerfielder Alfredo Amezaga into the leadoff spot, where he has been for most of the past three weeks. He placed the pitcher, rookie right-hander Rick Vanden Hurk, at the bottom of the order.

Then he zipped through Nos. 2-8, barely stopping at all. In less than a minute there was a name next to each number. He handed the paper to bench coach Carlos Tosca. "I've had a couple of days to think about it," says Gonzalez.

Florida's lineup is a good one, easily one of the best in the National League. The Marlins are scoring nearly five runs a game, second only to the Phillies. The team is third in homers, third in slugging percentage and fourth (behind the Braves, Mets and Phillies) in OPS, a combination of on-base and slugging percentages.

But Gonzalez's current lineup has its detractors. In the middle of his card, not at the top, where many believe he belongs, is Hanley Ramirez, maybe the league's best leadoff hitter. Ramirez, 23, is the complete package: a bat with pop, slick glove, a powerful arm, tremendous range, and speed that thrills. He's part of a group of exciting under-30 shortstops in the league that includes the Mets' Jose Reyes, the Dodgers' Rafael Furcal and the Phillies' Jimmy Rollins.

The difference among these players? Reyes, Furcal and Rollins are all leading off for their teams. Ramirez has been hiting at the No. 3 spot, ahead of All-Star third baseman Miguel Cabrera, for the past three weeks.

It's a bold move for a manager, messing with a proven leadoff man like Ramirez. It's especially gutsy of a newbie like Gonzalez. Under rookie manager Joe Girardi last season, Ramirez batted almost exclusively leadoff. He hit .292, with 51 steals, and was named the NL's Rookie of the Year. This season, in his first 34 games leading off, Ramirez was hitting a stunning .343 with a .425 on-base percentage, the best marks in the NL. He had four homers, seven RBIs, and 12 stolen bases.

Faced with an increasingly beat-up lineup, Gonzalez took his all but sure thing and scrapped it in an attempt to bring more power into the middle of the lineup. The results so far are debatable. But three weeks into his dangerous little experiment, the manager likes what he's seeing.

"It's not written in concrete," says Gonzalez. "But for right now, with the players that we have on the team, I think that's a good spot for him."

Has Gonzalez's decision worked? Well, the numbers can be massaged a lot of ways. For the bottom-liners, the Marlins have a winning record with Ramirez batting third (14-8 after their doubleheader split Tuesday). They were just 14-20 with him leading off. No. 2 hitter Dan Uggla, before Tuesday's doubleheader against the Braves, was hitting .224 with Ramirez in front of him. The second baseman is hitting .350 with Ramirez behind him. Cabrera's numbers are up, too, with Ramirez hitting directly in front of him.

But Ramirez's numbers are on the downswing as he's dropped the two spots in the lineup. In the third spot, he's hitting just .264 with a .313 on-base percentage. He has four home runs and 10 RBIs in 91 at-bats.

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