I like the lineup.
Arizona has already lost 100 games. We cannot leave there with anything less then 3 of 4. We absolutely have to win this series. Period.
I like Ozzie behind Freddie. Bring in a lefty for Freeman and Riley was hurting us
We need to sweep and the Giants need to sweep the Padres so San Diego has little motivation this weekend. I don’t care that we’re on the road, there’s no excuse not to sweep this series.
Ozzie makes sense in the 3 hole since he's roughly the 4th/5th best hitter on the team. He also fits the description of "a good batter who casual fans think is more dynamic than he actually is", which incidentally works very well in the 3 hole.
I still marvel at Riley becoming a legit .850 OPS guy.
As a recap of optimized lineup construction:
"you want your best three hitters to hit in the #1, #4, and #2 spots. Distribute them so OBP is higher in the order and SLG is lower. Then place your fourth and fifth best hitters, with the #5 spot usually seeing the better hitter, unless he's a high-homerun guy. Then place your four remaining hitters in decreasing order of overall hitting ability, with basestealers ahead of singles hitters. Finally, stop talking like the lineup is a make-or-break decision."
vs RHP the best 3 hitters are clearly Freeman, Riley and Soler. Following the guidelines above, they bat 1, 4 and 2. The exact order doesn't matter, but I'd probably lead off Freeman, stick Riley 4, and Soler 2. The next 2 best hitters are Swanson and Duvall, and since Duvall is a clear "high-homerun guy", he bats 3rd and Swanson bats 5th. Albies goes 6th to steal in front of Rosario and TDA (TDA 8th since Freeman is leading off).
vs LHP the best 3 hitters are Albies, Soler and Freeman. Following the guidelines above, Albies bats 1st, Freeman 2nd, and Soler 4th. To keep things a bit more stable, it might be fine to simply swap Albies and Riley between the 4 and 6 spots depending on SP. Heredia goes in for Rosario.
The D-backs are 4-16 in their last 20, and the Padres are 10-24 in their last 34. There's no excuses this week.
So you’re saying 7-0 or rebuild?
Phillies down 2-0 going to 8th
2-0 Orioles going to 9th
Well, that was an exceptional start.
I’ll take it. That last pitch was a slider that didn’t break and was middle-middle. Hopefully, Ynoa is good to go now
Phillies lose. Big game for us
ORIOLES WIN
Switching back and forth between this and MNF. At bat called that a ground ball double by Riley... now I question every thing
Runner on 2nd, nobody out. Arizona’s pitcher must love to see that.
Swanson is pretty much unplayable offensively
Yikes