In this copycat era when black uniforms pass for innovation,
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa remains a maverick. After St.
Louis lost 10 of 12 games entering the All-Star break, La Russa
spent his three off days stewing over a solution to his team's
offensive doldrums. Last Thursday night, in the team's first game
after the break, La Russa penciled his starting pitcher, Todd
Stottlemyre, into the eighth spot in the batting order and put
second baseman Placido Polanco in the ninth position. It marked
the first time a big league pitcher had batted anywhere but ninth
since June 1, 1979, when Philadelphia manager Danny Ozark batted
Steve Carlton eighth and light-hitting Bud Harrelson ninth.
"I don't see how it doesn't make sense for the ninth-place
hitter to be a legitimate hitter," La Russa explains. "It gives
you a double leadoff man and a better shot to score runs. It's
an extra guy on base in front of Ray [Lank ford], Mark
[McGwire] and Brian [Jordan]. The more guys who are on base, the
less they'll be able to pitch around Mark."
La Russa used a similar philosophy when he managed Oakland in
the American League and regularly placed a solid hitter in the
number 9 spot to set the table for McGwire and Jose Canseco. La
Russa says he might not have dared this approach with the
Cardinals if the team had a more conventional number 2 hitter,
but Lankford is a run producer in his own right. La Russa used
the new alignment in four straight games through Sunday, and the
team won three of them, even though the number 9 batters went a
combined 2 for 14 with one run scored. "It's not like we were
breaking up a red-hot offense," La Russa says. "We'll see what
happens."
La Russa's decision to sacrifice the number 8 hole presents an
interesting contrast with the Yankees' lineup, in which the
eighth spot has been one of the most productive in the order.
Because Yankees third baseman Scott Brosius hit only .203 in '97
and had a poor spring training this year, manager Joe Torre
placed him in the eighth spot early this season. Brosius has
thrived there, even making the All-Star team. "I remember looking
at this lineup when I was traded here and telling my dad that I
could hit .300 and never get out of the eight hole," Brosius
says. "There's no bad spot to hit in this lineup. Even when
you're hitting eighth, the fifth, sixth and seventh guys are
getting on base, and there are opportunities to drive in runs."
Indeed, Brosius was hitting .310 at week's end, ranked third on
the Yankees with 55 RBIs and had effectively become a second
cleanup man in the order. Torre says he has no plans to remove
Brosius from the eighth spot.
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Issue date: July 20, 1998
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