Well, sort of. I mean, most of the time the pitcher is the worst hitter on the team. And it generally makes sense to place your worst hitter ninth in the lineup -- after all, he has to hit somewhere. That said, I love that this happened and the Rays still won. And I love Sonnanstine's attitude: "I get to hit." I suspect there are several AL pitchers who would love to grab a bat (Beckett and Sabathia spring to mind). And I'm sure they'd all rather pitch to a pitcher than have to face a DH. -- Matt
--- On Mon, 5/18/09, Ray Salemi <[email protected]> wrote: From: Ray Salemi <[email protected]> Subject: Re: This would happen far more often To: [email protected] Date: Monday, May 18, 2009, 1:36 PM Notice that the pitcher batted third and the team one. This is not really a sample, but it supports the idea that lineup order is somewhat arbitrary and that the pitcher batting 9th is really just a mindless following of the book. Ray On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 11:32 AM, Larry Rupp <[email protected]> wrote: Yes - I heard this on espn last night. Unfortunately even with Long out of lineup due to technicality, Tribe still couldn't win. And Ray's pitcher put one over the left field Tribe player to bring in a run if memory serves. So I went to yesterdays game at Safeco. It's not our pitching that needs help, it's ss fielding (2 errors the last costing us the game) and too many LOB (no outs and based loaded u can't finish the inning wo a run). Lowell was amazing so have to give him some credit but the other 8 had a really bad offense and defensive day. Wasn't for lack of support - Mariners fans called it Fenway West all weekend. Sent from Larry's iPhone On May 18, 2009, at 7:37 AM, Tom Salemi <[email protected]> wrote: if I were a major league manager. Not out of strategy, just carelessness. Rays mistake sends pitcher to plate By ROGER MOONEY - [email protected] ST. PETERSBURG — History was made during the bottom of the first inning Sunday when a pitcher came to bat for the first time ever at Tropicana Field. Because of a mix-up on the Tampa Bay Rays lineup card, Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine was forced to replace designated hitter Evan Longoria and bat for himself. Apparently, the Rays lineup card handed to the umpires before the game listed both Ben Zobrist and Longoria as the third baseman. Longoria was supposed to be the designated hitter. Zobrist took the field for the top of the first inning, so he was in the game. Since Longoria did not play, he was kept out of the lineup and would still be eligible to play. So Sonnanstine came to bat in the bottom of the first with Carl Crawford on first base. Sonnanstine, a .400 career hitter, received a standing ovation. He tried to bunt Crawford over to second, but bunted the ball too hard and forced Crawford out at second. The last American League pitcher to begin a game with a position in the batting order was Ken Brett of the White Sox on Sept. 23, 1976. -- Author of "FPGA Simulation: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide" www.fpgasimulation.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Red Sox Citizens" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/redsoxcitizens?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
