Regards to Heyward.
No way you bench him, but it wouldnt be a bad idea to give him the day-off to clear his head.
A day off wouldn't hurt at all. But if he doesn't get it going soon, he doesn't need to hit leadoff much longer.
I'd try this vs Burnett, dont think it happens though.
Simmons, SS.
BJ, CF.
FF, 1B.
JUp, RF.
CJ, 3B.
Uggla, 2B.
Pastornicky, LF.
Laird, C.
Wood, P.
Julio3000 (04-16-2014)
Surely Fredi wouldn't drop Heyward before dropping BJ in the lineup
Hey wards BABIP is low and is going to continue to be low until he quits rolling over half his balls in play to 2B. He needs to figure out the hitter he was when he first came up and start the hitting the ball the other way like he used to. If he continues to try to pull everything g and hit weak ground balls to 2B he will have a low BABIP forever.
I wonder when we start blaming Heyward's poor offensive performance on the jaw protector.
Julio Teheran became first visiting pitcher to hurl a shutout – no matter number of hits allowed – at Citizens Bank Park.
When you stand 4 feet off the plate and then try to pull anything but the most inside pitches, all you can do is hit weak grounders to the pull side. Heyward's weakness has always been pitches in under his hands, so it looks like he backs farther and farther off the plate to compensate. Then he tries to pull pitches down the middle/away, and the weak contact ensues.
He did line out to 3rd a couple days ago, which I thought was a good sign, but it appears now it wasn't intentional.
Great game by Julio Teheran and Evan Gattis last night. Good to see Teheran get his first complete game, hopefully more to come. Also great to see Gattis stay hot and have his first career 4 hit game including the game winning homer. I didn't know if anyone would hit a homer given the wind last night. But Gattis is a strong man who can hit it out even with such conditions.
Hopefully Wood wins today and we complete the sweep.